07-05-2025
Mercer County looking at paying bigger jail bills
princeton – Seeing the daily cost of housing an inmate jump by $12 is leading to a special Mercer County Commission meeting Thursday about how to keep the county's regional jail bill paid until the fiscal year ends this July.
The Mercer County Commission's special meeting starts at 2 p.m., Thursday at the county courthouse. The commission will discuss the regional jail bill for April 2025 and the Glenwood Lake Dredging Project.
Last March, the West Virginia Regional Jail system was holding 163 Mercer County inmates. In April, there were 129 county inmates. The daily cost of keeping each inmate started growing in April when an increase the Legislature passed in March 2023 went into effect, County Commission President Bill Archer said Tuesday.
'Because of the increases, the jail bill has gone up astronomically,' Archer said.
In March, the county's jail bill was $127,474.81. By April, it had grown to $146,985.60, according to county records.
'So it's just been climbing constantly and we're having to look at some of the potential other funds in order to be able to do it,' Archer said.
Archer flipped through an inmates list.
'It's all the people from around this area whether it was inmates taken in from the state police, from the county deputies and both the cities of Princeton and Bluefield,' he said. 'The county is responsible for those inmates. I understand it's a major increase but they (regional jail authority) are having space challenges there and that kind of thing and, of course, they went through that lawsuit of the inmates against the regional jail system.'
The special meeting is for discussing how the county commission can pay the jail bill until the current fiscal year ends on June 30. Archer said a recent settlement in an antitrust lawsuit between West Virginia and a drug manufacturer could provide extra funding.
Mercer County was among the counties and municipalities across West Virginia that shared nearly $3.5 million raised as part of a settlement agreement involving the cholesterol drug Lipitor, according to West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey announced May 1.
The settlement was from an antitrust lawsuit against Pfizer Inc. and related companies and Ranbaxy Inc. The lawsuit alleged the two companies conspired to delay the introduction onto the market of a cheaper generic version of Lipitor for 20 months. Lipitor's original patent expired on March 24, 2010.
Mercer County received $50,000 from the settlement. Raleigh County also received $50,000 from the settlement while McDowell County and Fayette County each received $30,000.
Unlike funds raised by West Virginia's settlements with opioid manufacturers, counties have flexibility with how they spend their Pfizer settlements, Archer said. This means the funds could help cover the county's jail expenses for the rest of the fiscal year.
Adjusting the county's budget is on the commission's May 13 meeting agenda. The budget is still being compiled Tuesday.
'It's really difficult times and that kind of hit us,' Archer said about the jail bill. 'That's expected, but unexpected in how draconian it is. Thankfully we've got good people in the county clerk's office who are constantly looking at the funds we have coming in and constantly looking at ways we can make adjustments so we can meet our requirements. It's a day-to-day right now. We're having to clamp down on stuff. This is a challenge; again, we'll talk about that next Tuesday.'
Contact Greg Jordan at
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