Dallas County OKs deal to end feud with city over use of jail

Dallas County commissioners unanimously approved an updated agreement with the city of Dallas on Tuesday for the use of the Lew Sterrett Justice Center, ending a yearlong dispute during which the city refused to pay the county for jail services. The agreement includes a new way to calculate how much the city pays for jail services and adds a penalty for any missed payments. County commissioners signed off on the deal after a brief discussion of some of the contract’s language and about 24 months of work by the county. The city has contracted with the county since 1978 to process and hold people accused of crimes, but the most recent deal hadn’t been updated since 1997. City officials had been warned for years — including in a 2009 Dallas audit — that the outdated agreement caused overcharges and failed to clearly define several issues, including which agency is responsible for people brought to the jail who need to go to a hospital.

Under the new agreement, the city will pay a percentage of the jail’s projected costs, based in large part on how many people the city has detained there. If the actual costs end up being less than expected, the county will reimburse the city. City records show Dallas has paid more for jail services each year since 2016, despite the number of people being booked decreasing most years. The city went from paying $7.6 million in 2016 after more than 19,000 people were booked to owing $9.5 million in 2021 with about 17,000 people booked. The latest talks over the contract have been ongoing since 2018. The two entities reached a tentative agreement last month, when, at the time, the city owed around $10.2 million to the county because it had refused to pay its jail bill since April 2021. Dallas is supposed to pay the county every month to help cover the city’s share of jail operating costs. Dallas council members in April approved paying the county almost $14 million for jail service through September, which is the end of the current fiscal year.