LAS VEGAS (AP) - Las Vegas officials are bracing for the loss of up to $8 million in annual revenue after a suburb announced plans to stop sending its inmates to the city’s jail.
The city of North Las Vegas recently gave one-year notice to end an agreement that calls for sending 315 of its inmates to the Las Vegas Detention Center, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Thursday.
The suburb has paid the city between $132 and $218 per inmate each day. Las Vegas has collected nearly $53 million for jail services from the suburb since 2012, according to the city.
“Our team is working diligently, and will be over the next 12 months, to analyze the situation and work in every way possible to soften the blow to our general fund,” Las Vegas City Manager Scott Adams told the city council.
North Las Vegas plans to reopen its jail that closed in 2012 amid a budget crisis. The suburb expects to spend about $1.5 million to renovate the North Las Vegas Detention Center, which can hold nearly 500 inmates, said Ryann Juden, the suburb’s city manager.
The suburb expects to save money reducing the cost and time of transporting inmates and freeing up sentencing options for certain offenders, Juden said.
Sending inmates to the Las Vegas jail can sometimes take officers off patrol for two hours, Juden said.
“In the aggregate, we entirely believe it is going to save the residents of North Las Vegas money,” Juden said.
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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
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