York County sues Rock Hill, Tega Cay over money for housing jailed inmates
York County and its sheriff have filed a lawsuit against the cities of Rock Hill and Tega Cay over payment for housing inmates at the county jail.
The lawsuit, filed around 5 p.m. Wednesday, is the latest public dispute concerning money -- the Carolina Panthers practice facility apparently has ended because of a dispute over money -- involving York County and Rock Hill.
In the lawsuit, York County says the municipalities of York, Fort Mill and Clover have agreed to pay the county $73 per day to house inmates, but Rock Hill and Tega Cay have refused.
Rock Hill leaders acknowledged the lawsuit was filed, but claim the county has not said how it came up with the $73 per prisoner daily fee, a city written statement to The Herald said. Rock Hill residents already pay almost $8 million annually in taxes to support the sheriff’s office, the city statement said.
York County and the York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson are both plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The cities of Rock Hill and Tega Cay are both named as defendants.
The dispute is about reimbursement money
The lawsuit states the sheriff’s office has a legal responsibility under South Carolina law to house inmates and operate a county jail. Countywide taxes are collected for this purpose, the lawsuit states.
The issue of conflict is whether the municipalities have to reimburse the county, and how much the municipalities should pay.
The sheriff’s office will continue to accept inmates from Rock Hill and Tega Cay until the issue is resolved by the court, according to the lawsuit. It remains unclear when a judge will order a hearing on the issue.
County claims Rock Hill, Tega Cay won’t agree
The full statement from York County reads;
“On Wednesday, due to actions by the Cities of Rock Hill and Tega Cay, York County and Sheriff Kevin Tolson took steps to protect their interests, and the interests of the taxpayers, through legal proceedings. The Cities inside York County have an obligation under the law to provide jail detention services for individuals that they detain. For many years those detention services have been provided by agreement with the County and Sheriff Tolson at the York County Detention Center. Under that agreement the Cities reimburse the County and Sheriff Tolson for the cost of detaining their municipal inmates. This arrangement results in reduction of overall cost for most municipalities when compared to the cost of constructing and operating detention facilities themselves.
“Last year, the Cities declined to pay the County and the Sheriff for these detention services and expected to continue to send their detainees without payment. More recently, the Cities have refused to enter into written agreements with the County and Sheriff Tolson, as required by law, that would govern this joint provision of services. The County and Sheriff Tolson have worked for more than six months to negotiate and obtain the required signatures from each of the County’s municipalities for such a written agreement. Clover, Fort Mill, and York all have signed such agreements; Rock Hill and Tega Cay refuse. This lawsuit seeks a court’s determination that, if Rock Hill and Tega Cay desire to have the County and Sheriff Tolson provide these detention services on their behalf, then they are required to enter written agreements governing the arrangement.”
York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson declined comment.
Rock Hill says county won’t say where $73 per day comes from
In a statement to The Herald, the city of Rock Hill said county leaders first tried to make the per day payment almost $100 per day before the amount was cut to $73. But the county still won’t say where the $73 per day cost comes from, and refuses to negotiate, the statement said.
Records obtained by the Herald show the previous amount for was around $43-$42.88 per day per inmate.
The city states that any payments are voluntary and not required under South Carolina law.
The city statement says:
“Today, York County took the unfortunate step of filing a lawsuit against municipalities in York County. The County is completely aware of the City of Rock Hill position that these fees have historically been paid voluntarily as they are not required under state law.
The City does not entirely object to voluntarily paying a fee; however, the City only plans to do so under a fairly negotiated agreement. Just over one year ago, York County unilaterally and arbitrarily announced it was raising the daily fees for boarding prisoners to almost $100 per prisoner per day, essentially doubling the fee. This was done with no provision of information or background on how the fee was calculated.
Many of the municipalities in York County announced they would not pay these fees. Several months later the County provided new information to the municipalities that reduced these arbitrary fees by approximately 20%. However, again no adequate justification was provided for how the fee was calculated.
In the spirit of cooperation and good faith, the City has paid all fees associated with the dispute. The fee has been voluntarily paid, even though there is no law requiring the City to do so. In fact, the state statute requires the County to board all municipal prisoners with no provision for fees....
Beyond paying these fees, City of Rock Hill taxpayers already fund operations related to the Sheriff’s Office through County property taxes paid to the tune of approximately $7.9 million a year. Surely, Rock Hill residents have paid their fair share to York County for these services.
The City has made several offers on how we would be comfortable moving forward under a fairly negotiated agreement; however, York County has refused to negotiate. We look forward to providing additional information before the court and vigorously defending the residents of Rock Hill all of whom are also residents of York County.”
Efforts to reach the city manager of Tega Cay by email were unsuccessful.
The lawsuit is a public record and can be viewed by the public here at sccourts.org.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
This story was originally published April 22, 2022 at 10:43 AM.
