GREEN RIVER — The Green River City Council will consider approving a fee increase for municipal offenders to be housed at the Sweetwater County Detention Center.
According to Green River City Council meeting documents, “the City of Green River Municipal Court will occasionally sentence offenders of city ordinance to terms in a detention center.”
As the city does not operate a detention center, they maintain an agreement with Sweetwater County to use their detention facility to house these offenders.
Green River currently pays $85 per day to house those who are sentenced to a jail term. However, meeting documents state that over the county has seen a rise in costs associated with housing inmates over the last several years. Therefore, they are seeking to raise their housing costs to $125 per day.
According to meeting documents, this rate is consistent with average housing costs across Wyoming.
Meeting documents explain that it is difficult to determine the fiscal impact of this rate change, as it is dependent on several factors including the number of offenders sentenced, and the length of their sentence.
“As the cost per day will increase by nearly a third, it should be expected that the cost per year will increase similarly,” the documents state.
According to the meeting documents, overages for this account have been covered as needed from other areas within the same budget section over the past several years. The city will use those same areas within the budget to cover the additional costs for Fiscal year 2024, and will plan to increase the budged amount for these costs for Fiscal year 2025.
Other Business
During the Council meeting, the American Legion Auxiliary will recognize the young women in the community who participated in Girls State. There will also be a recognition of Glenn Hill for his induction into the Wyoming Fire Service Hall of Fame for the year 2022.
The Green River City Council will meet Tuesday, September 19, at 7 p.m. at Green River City Hall.
To view the full meeting agenda and packet, click here.
