The Seminole City Council has approved a new inmate detention agreement with the county jail.

The jail recently upped the city’s inmate incarceration fee from $32.68 per day to $67.54 per day, an increase of nearly 107 percent. The council approved the new contract during its regular monthly meeting held Tuesday, March 11.

The rate hike, which is applicable to all municipalities in Seminole County, was announced shortly after a failed sales tax proposal to fund operations at the jail. A half-cent tax was approved by voters in 2006 for jail construction and operations, which will drop to a quarter cent in 2027. The county was seeking an additional quarter-cent for operations, but the measure failed at the ballot box on April 6 by a vote of 838 - 217.

Cities are billed directly by the county for incarceration fees, and it is up to the city to recoup the costs from the inmate. Under the agreement, cities will also be responsible for any damage done to the jail by an inmate of the city that exceeds $100.

“We want video evidence of the damages,” City Manager Steve Saxon told the council as the agreement was being discussed. “We don’t want a county inmate tearing out the sprinkler system and them sending us a bill. We need to be able to see that it was a city inmate.”

According to Saxon, the county agreed that it will notify the city immediately of any damages done by the inmate and the actual repairs costs.

The City of Konawa approved its agreement with the county during a regular council meeting held on Monday, May 3.