OXNARD : Proposed Jail Fee Could Cost City $550,000

A new fee being considered by the county Board of Supervisors to pay for the cost of booking prisoners into County Jail may drain the financially strapped city of Oxnard of $550,000 annually, according to a city report.

The report by Oxnard Management and Budget Director Bill Mayer, released last week, said the supervisors are considering charging each city in the county a fee of $120 for each prisoner booked into the County Jail.

In adopting its latest budget, state lawmakers approved legislation allowing counties to pass such costs on to the cities. The Board of Supervisors will discuss the fee during a meeting today.

Under the proposal, the county would not charge cities for bookings related to warrants, court orders and other such cases. Allowing for such exemptions, the report said the Oxnard Police Department had 4,600 bookings during fiscal year 1989-90.

Although the booking fee would not become effective until Jan. 1, 1991, the report said the proposal before the county would make the fee retroactively applicable to July 1, 1990.

In an interview Monday, City Manager Vernon G. Hazen said the fee would hurt the financially strapped city. “It seems to be just one thing on top of the other,” he said, adding that Mayor Nao Takasugi is expected to protest the fee at today’s board meeting.

Police Chief Robert Owens said the fee could force the city to scrutinize all misdemeanor arrests and “reduce to the lowest level the people we book through the County Jail.”

The city could avoid the fee by building its own jail or charging the booking cost to the arrested suspect. But Owens called those solutions unfeasible.

However, he said the California Police Chiefs Assn. is planning to lobby the state Legislature to repeal the legislation that allows the county to pass on the fees to the cities.

“But I can’t see any immediate solutions that would be satisfactory to everyone concerned,” he said.