Fayette County commissioners

may stir the pot of controversy again this week, taking steps to start

charging local cities per diem fees to house some county jail inmates.

During their business meeting

Thursday at 7 p.m., commissioners will consider ending their 1994 agreement

with the cities. The agreement guarantees space at the Fayette County

Jail for the cities' prisoners, and county leaders interpret the language

in the pact as a prohibition on charging daily fees.

Commissioners decided to take

a new look at the agreement recently when they approved a plan to relieve

overcrowding at the county jail by housing some of the county's prisoners

at a facility in Union City, paying $45 a day for each prisoner.

A plan to pass that fee on

to the cities for misdemeanor offenders sentenced by municipal courts

was brought up short when city leaders reminded commissioners of the 1994

agreement.

The agreement requires all

parties to give six months notice before terminating it, so any action

taken by the commission won't be effective until this summer.

Any change is not likely to

sit well with elected leaders in Fayetteville, Peachtree City and Tyrone,

who insist that the cities' residents are paying more than enough in taxes

and surcharges on court fines to support the prisoners they send to the

county jail.

The disagreement is part of

a larger dispute over tax equity, with city leaders claiming that their

residents pay more in taxes to the county than they receive in services.

County leaders say an imbalance in how local option sales taxes are divided

County commissioners will meet

at 7 p.m. at the County Administrative Complex, 140 Stonewall Ave., Fayetteville.

All commission meetings are open to the public.