MORGANTOWN – The West Virginia Department of Homeland Security’s Division of Administrative Services has informed the Monongalia County Commission that the cost of housing arrestees in the North Central Regional Jail is going up.
Counties are responsible for costs incurred by the state for housing and maintaining inmates who are pretrial or jailed due to misdemeanor convictions.
In a Nov. 30 letter, Division of Administrative Services Director Tina Desmond explained that the base rate charged to counties per inmate, per day will increase from $57.46 to $75.44, a jump of $17.98, or 31%.
The increased rate will take effect on the July 1, 2026 start of the 2027 fiscal year.
Following the passage of HB3552 during the 2023 regular session of the West Virginia Legislature, county jail bills moved to a proportional formula calculated using the base rate set by the state, each county’s population and each county’s total number of inmate days.
Under that formula, each county is given a pro rata number of inmate days achieved by multiplying the county’s most recent census population (2020) by 0.52.
A county’s total jail bill is then calculated as follows using Monongalia County as the example.
Monongalia County’s pro rata number of inmate days is 55,027 (105,822 x 0.52)
For the first 80% of that number – 44,022 in Monongalia County – the county is charged 80% of the base rate set by the state (currently $45.97). The county is charged the full base rate ($57.46) between 80% and 100% of the pro rata number – 44,022 to 55,027. Going beyond 100% of a county’s pro rata number of inmate days triggers a jump in daily cost to 120% of the base rate ($68.95).
Starting July 1, 2026, those daily rates will increase to $60.35, $75.44 and $90.53, respectively.
Under this system, it benefits taxpayers to ensure arrestees are not left sitting in jail waiting to appear in court.
Commission President Jeff Arnett said this has become a priority in Monongalia County.
“Judges and prosecutors watch the roster of those jailed closely in order to expedite any of those who can be arraigned or bailed out or adjudicated easily and quickly,” he said. “This can help the number of days they are incarcerated to lessen the cost to the county.”
In the last three fiscal years, the county has spent $2,384,466.75 (FY 2023); $1,836,427.11 (FY 2024) and $2,349,457.35 (FY 2025) on jail costs. The county budgeted $2.2 million for jail costs in the current fiscal year
