(Money Matters - Photo Illustration/MetroCreative)

PARKERSBURG — The Wood County Commission wants their bill for regional jail prisoners reviewed after the amount for July came in over $200,000 which is a significant increase.

Wood County Administrator Marty Seufer informed the commission Monday of the increase which totaled $201,532.48 for July which covers just the first month of the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The county averages around $1,425.07 a month per prisoner, he said.

“It is as high as it has been in years,” Seufer said.

The county had 195 prisoners at the regional jail for all or a portion of the month.

The previous month’s jail bill was around $170,000. Just a couple of months ago, it was around $140,000, officials said.

“Something is going on and I don’t know what it is,” Wood County Commission President Blair Couch said.

He questioned if there is a delay somewhere in the courts preventing cases from being handled in a timely manner.

Wood County Prosecutor Pat Lefebure said there was nothing unusual in his office holding up cases where cases aren’t being done in a timely manner. They also haven’t had a significant increase in arrests to account for that increase.

“We didn’t have anything out of the ordinary,” Lefebure said. “We haven’t had anything like a drug sweep where 40-50-60 people were being arrested.”

Seufer said he will check and see if their records match the jail’s records to make sure they are being charged for local prisoners and others weren’t mistakenly added to the county’s totals.

From one month to the next month should only vary by the new arrests, Couch said, adding they will have to look at who has been released and who is still in.

The sheriff’s department has been looking at getting more people in home confinement. Officials said they will also look at the bails being set.

The commission will have Wood County Courts Coordinator Pam Brust review the bill. Over the last several years, Brust has done a regular audit of the jail bill and has found errors in the billing, where the county was overcharged and more which has resulted in the county getting credit for those mistakes on the county jail bill.

From March 2017 to May 2023, the county has received a total of $607,119.50 back in credits, officials said.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com