Rock County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 9, 2025 adopted a new county ordinance to allow the sheriff’s office to charge certain costs for incarcerating sentenced inmates and then approved a separate resolution setting the county’s per‑day cost of maintaining a prisoner at $135.95.

Board members approved creation of “chapter 3 part 9” of the Rock County Code of Ordinances, described in the meeting as “Jail Inmate Cost,” and later voted to set the daily rate that the ordinance authorizes. The ordinance was presented as a response to state authority and was described as effective upon publication.

County officials said the measure is intended to let the sheriff recoup nominal fees such as booking, transportation, drug testing and electronic‑monitoring charges for sentenced inmates. Court counsel cautioned that, while the county can bill for costs, actual recovery will be limited because many people who become incarcerated lack assets or steady income.

“The reality is not much because for the most part these individuals are what we would call judgment proof,” court counsel said, explaining why collections are often unsuccessful and why the county’s corporation counsel office does not typically pursue small‑value claims. The sheriff’s office, speaking to the board, said the daily‑rate calculation was prepared with the department’s accounting supervisor and a captain to reflect actual operating costs.

“We were trying to look at ways to recover some of the expenditures that we have by having the inmates become incarcerated in our jail,” the sheriff said. Captain Josh Lund described how the ordinance ties to fee collection: “By setting a daily rate we’re able to go after, like the sheriff said, we can go after a booking fee, a transportation fee, drug testing fees, electronic monitoring fee.” Captain Lund added that the fees would apply to sentenced inmates only and not to people who are merely arrested and presumed innocent.

Several supervisors raised practical questions about collecting money and the potential costs of pursuing debts. Supervisor Bob Zine asked whether incarcerated people pay their costs; the sheriff and court counsel reiterated that some medical or monitoring fees are billed but that full incarceration costs are rarely recovered. Supervisor Fuglseth noted that pursuing small debts can cost more in staff time than the county would recover; officials responded that the ordinance creates the authority to charge and that the county will weigh the opportunity cost of pursuing collections.

Supervisor Tillman, who said he served 12 years as a jail administrator, supported giving the county the ability to charge housing fees while cautioning that aggressive collection efforts can harm other county systems that serve the same population. “I do think it’s a good idea to have the opportunity and the ability to charge these housing fees and to make an effort to collect them. But we also have to realize that the expectation of getting every dollar that we charge is unrealistic,” Tillman said.

The board approved the ordinance and the separate resolution setting the daily cost by voice vote. The meeting record shows the motions passed after the chair called for those in favor to “signify by saying aye.” No roll‑call tallies were recorded in the transcript.

The ordinance references Wisconsin statute 302.372 as the statutory framework for inmate costs; court counsel pointed board members to the sheriff for operational questions and noted that the county’s legal office will not generally pursue routine collections at scale because of resource constraints.

Board members and sheriff’s office officials said the measure is a first step to allow limited cost recovery while acknowledging that most inmates will not pay the full cost of their incarceration. The ordinance is effective upon publication; the resolution setting the $135.95 daily rate is aligned to that ordinance.