McDowell leaders warn jail costs are straining county budget

Regional jail bills are tightening the squeeze on McDowell County’s budget, even though the county is not behind on its payments. County Commission President Michael Brooks said leaders are trying to keep up with the costs while still funding the services they are required to provide, and he warned that the rising bill has devastated the county budget.

The pressure in McDowell is part of a statewide problem that has steadily grown around West Virginia’s regional jail system. The network began replacing 55 county jails in 1989 after the West Virginia Regional Jail and Prison Authority was established in 1985, and 10 regional jails now serve all 55 counties. Those counties are billed through a per-diem system that includes discounted, base and overage rates, with state law requiring an annual calculation of the daily cost for inmates in jails under the commissioner’s jurisdiction.

In 2024, lawmakers were told the per diem rate was $67.27 per inmate. A 2023 law, House Bill 3552, was intended to ease the burden with some reimbursement and rate-relief provisions, but county officials have said it has not provided enough help.

The numbers show why commissioners keep sounding the alarm. The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy has reported that the state’s average daily regional jail population rose nearly 32% from 2009 to 2019 and 81% from 2000 to 2019, pushing county spending higher over time. As of April 4, 2025, counties across West Virginia owed $15,020,710.48 in regional jail bills, and Clay, McDowell and Webster counties were identified as the counties owing the most for roughly the past decade.

Brooks said McDowell leaders are not going to tell deputies and other officers to stop making arrests when they are needed, which leaves the county to absorb the cost of housing inmates elsewhere. That leaves fewer dollars for the everyday work residents notice most: road repairs, emergency services, public safety equipment and other county obligations that can be crowded out when jail invoices climb.

The situation is not yet a missed-payment crisis in McDowell, but it is still a budget problem with real consequences. In Kanawha County, Commission President Lance Wheeler said detention costs were about $1 million higher than the previous year, and the county approved a $5 million jail-bill budget for one year. A 2026 analysis cited by MetroNews and the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy said counties could face $8.4 million more in jail bills this year even if jail use does not rise.

State corrections officials have said they are reviewing the issue, leaving county leaders waiting for a response from Charleston while the bills keep arriving. For McDowell, the question is no longer whether the jail system is expensive. It is how long county government can keep paying for it without forcing taxpayers to absorb the costs somewhere else.