×

Marietta City Council discusses jail fees

MARIETTA — Marietta City Council says it doesn’t have to pay the Washington County Commission for inmates charged under state statute.

“State law says that we don’t have to pay to have someone incarcerated when it’s for a violation of state law,” said Finance Committee Chairman Tom Vukovic.

The Finance Committee moved to draft legislation to pull $23,721.53 previously allocated under the jail contract and place it in the budget for the police department.

Council had previously budgeted $35,000 for this year’s contractual services.

In other business, City Engineer Joe Tucker notified council that the final payments for the second phase of renovations of the wastewater treatment plant have been finalized and the cost is 7.2 percent under budget.

“The total loan amount from the (Ohio Water Development Authority) was $6,991,940 but the total cost was $6,489,451.49-a $502,488.51 savings that we returned and won’t accrue interest as we pay back this loan,” said Tucker.

City Law Director Paul Bertram said all sewer customers within city limits and in the connected area of Devola would be saving money from this final accounting.

“We’ve saved our customers half a million dollars as a result of the previous contractors going bankrupt,” he said.

The committee was also notified that Marietta is an entitlement community by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for Community Development Block Grant funds. The designation means the city will not compete with other municipalities for funds.

“That means that for as long as the program continues, we will always receive monies and won’t have to compete anymore to get our grant,” said City Development Director Andy Coleman. “And this year we got $764 more than we asked for so I would like to have that added to a line item we’ve had in the past for contingencies.”

The 2017 Community Development allocation to Marietta was $361,764.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today