PLACENTIA : City OKs Law to Bill Those Booked for Jail

An ordinance passed by the City Council on Tuesday will allow the city to require prisoners to pay for their booking fees at County Jail.

Currently, the county charges each city a $158 administrative fee for processing each prisoner. Placentia paid $46,816 in booking fees this past fiscal year--the first time that the county began charging cities the controversial fees.

State legislation that went into effect Aug. 1 allows cities to bill prisoners to recoup the booking fees. The council vote Tuesday was unanimous.

“It’s about time,” Councilman Arthur G. Newton said. “I think it’s ironic that there have been users’ fees for everything else.”

The invoices will be generated by the Finance Department once the city receives a notice of conviction from the court. Then, the bills will be mailed out to the convicted person’s residence or to their prison address if they are still incarcerated, city officials said.

If the bill is not paid within 90 days, the account will be turned over to the city’s collection agency, officials said.

“We don’t expect to collect for all the fees,” Police Capt. Jim Robertson said. “But every dollar gained is to the taxpayers’ benefit.”

Other cities are also seeking to recover booking fees from prisoners. Buena Park and La Habra have pursued the matter in civil court.

According to Police Chief Steven Stavely, La Habra books 60 prisoners into County Jail every year. Billing the convicted prisoners is now another option for the city, Stavely said,

Garden Grove also plans to draft an ordinance that will allow it to bill convicted prisoners. Officials there expect the proposal to go before the council later this month.

However, Brea Police Chief Donald L. Forkus said he is philosophically opposed to the idea of raising revenue by charging another fee.

“I don’t think we as public servants should be sitting around thinking of creative ways to get into people’s pockets,” Forkus said. “The fact that the pockets in question belong to lawbreakers shouldn’t make a difference. . . . These people have enough trouble.”