Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch has asked county commissioners to table the renewal of agreements with the cities of Buford and Rest Haven for housing inmates in the county's jail.
Couch addressed commissioners at their Monday work session, saying that the sheriff's office is looking into possible changes in the rates that the county charges cities for using the county jail.
"Once these came in, we started looking at all of our agreements for all the other cities, and also with the [federal authorities] and they need to be updated," Couch said. "Some of them go back as far as 2004, a couple back in 2010 and a lot has changed."
Sheriff's Office Spokesman Derreck Booth said the county currently charges Buford and Rest Haven $39.20 per day to house an inmate. He said that while the jail is not a money-making endeavor, the county wants to find rates that are more fair.
Couch also said at Monday's meeting that the county will continue to accept inmates from the cities while they look into rate adjustments.
Multiple commissioners agreed with Couch that the rates need to be changed. Couch said he wants to make the rates fair and uniform, so that the county charges every city the same for using the jail's services.
District Three Commissioner Scott Gibbs pointed out that very few local jurisdictions have jails.
"And we've sort of cornered the market," Couch told Gibbs.
The Hall County Commission was set to vote on the renewal of the agreements with Buford and Rest Haven at its Thursday voting session, but agreed to table them until its first meeting in January.
In addition to Buford and Rest Haven, the cities of Gainesville, Oakwood and Flowery Branch also house inmates in the county jail.
