Racing the clock, officials

of Fayette County and Fayetteville have written a tentative agreement

that will allow housing of city prisoners in the County Jail.

Now the agreement will go before

the County Commission and City Council for possible ratification.

"It represents a substantial

compromise," said County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn.

Dunn, along with County Attorney

Bill McNally and County Administrator Chris Cofty, met two weeks ago and

again this past Friday with Mayor Kenneth Steele, City Manager Joe Morton

and City Attorney David Winkle to hammer out the agreement.

The issue, which revolves around

the county's insistence on charging per diem fees for housing the prisoners,

has had Fayette and its three largest cities deadlocked throughout 2001.

In the proposed agreement,

Dunn said, each side gave ground on the fee issue. The county originally

had asked for about $40 a day.

The agreement also touches

on how medical costs will be handled, who will guard the prisoners when

they are off the premises for appointments or trial, when the perdiem

payments are due, etc.

Fayetteville officials also

will present the proposal to Peachtree City and Tyrone in hopes it will

at least provide the ground work for agreements with them as well.

The current agreement expires

in January, so special meetings might be required to get a new agreement

in place before that happens, Dunn said.

The agreement became necessary

because last January, the County Commission notified Fayetteville, Peachtree

City and Tyrone that its 1994 agreement to house city prisoners those

sentenced by the municipal court for violating city ordinances would expire

in December, and the county did not intend to renew the pact.

City leaders objected, saying

their residents pay the bulk of property taxes for maintenance of the

jail, and charging per diem fees would amount to making their residents

pay twice for the same service.

County leaders say that taxes

paid for the jail provide only enough money to house prisoners sentenced

to keep the jail from being overfilled with minor offenders.

"We don't want to turn

around like Fulton County did, and have to say we're not taking anymore

municipal prisoners ... build your own jail," Dunn said. "We

don't want to get to that point."

The heated disagreement in

late 2000/early 2001 resulted in the scuttling of plans for impact fees

to help pay construction costs of the county's new jail, now under construction.

The cities would not agree to charge the impact fees within their borders

without language in the agreement guaranteeing space for city prisoners.

Following the county's cancellation

of the 1994 agreement, leaders in Fayetteville, Peachtree City and Tyrone

had asked for a joint meeting. But, citing several recent meetings that

have degenerated into rancor, county officials have been adamant that

they would meet with only one city at a time to discuss the dispute.

The dispute is part of a larger

issue that is being hashed out in court, the cities' claim that their

residents pay more in taxes than they receive in services from the county,

thus subsidizing taxes for residents of unincorporated Fayette. A visiting

judge ruled that the cities' request for mandatory mediation of that dispute

should go forward, and he is expected to appoint a mediator soon.

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