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Richland County committee approves raising per-diem to $110 to house detainees
Summary
The detention center ad hoc committee voted to raise the per-diem charge for housing detainees from $71 to $110 per day and forwarded the proposal to full council; Administrator Brown said the increase is intended to better reflect actual operating costs and will take effect only if full council approves.
The Richland County Detention Center ad hoc committee on Wednesday voted to raise the per-diem charge for housing detainees to $110 per day and send the proposal to full council for final approval.
Administrator Brown told the committee the county currently charges $71 per day to house a detainee at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center and that operating costs have risen. "Richland County currently charges $71 per day to house a detainee at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center," Brown said, and he presented county spending figures showing the facility's operational budget rising from about $21.9 million in 2019 to roughly $44 million in the most recently displayed budget. Brown recommended increasing the per-diem "by a minimum of $35 a day" to move toward the estimated true cost.
Councilman Weaver moved to set the per-diem at $110 per day; the motion was seconded and approved by the committee. The clerk recorded votes of "Yes" from Leto, Weaver and English before the chair declared the motion approved. Brown said the committee's action would be sent to outside agencies and that, if full county council approves, the new rate would be effective with the July start of the fiscal year.
Brown urged caution in setting rates for other jurisdictions but said the increase is necessary to better align charges with the county's actual costs for housing, medical and other detainee services. He showed the math used to estimate per-diem needs and emphasized the figure did not include capital costs for facility construction or renovation.
The committee's approval is a procedural step; full council must still consider and vote on the proposal. If approved by full council, administrators said they would notify affected agencies and implement the change at the start of the fiscal year.
