During its regular meeting held on May 3, the Konawa City Council 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 rate hike, which is applicable to all municipalities in Seminole County, came 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. The referendum was defeated at every precinct in the county.

Under the agreement, all cities will be responsible for any damage done to the jail by an inmate of the city that exceeds $100.