Troup County Commissioners are poised to accept an agreement Tuesday with the city of West Point to house city inmates at the county jail.

“West Point will agree to pay Troup County $45 per day per inmate plus the cost of medical,” said Dexter Wells, warden of the Troup County Correctional Institute. “According to the jail administrator, the actual cost to house an inmate at the jail is $45, so this agreement will be budget neutral.”

The agreement would not require additional staff or space. It would increase the number of inmates by about seven or eight per day.

“If you agree to it, we’re ready to move forward and begin housing those inmates,” Wells said.

The county already houses felony suspects arrested by West Point police, but people arrested on municipal charges stay in jail cells at the West Point Police Department. LaGrange and Hogansville already have similar agreements with the county to house their inmates, County Manager Tod Tentler said.

County Commission Chairman Ricky Wolfe said that the jail is becoming the choice location for the cities to use for inmates and as the cities grow, it adds to the county’s responsibility to provide the space to house inmates. Tentler pointed out that the jail was built with special-purpose, local-option sales money collected by residents countywide, not just in the unincorporated area.

In another matter, County Engineer James Emery presented a list of road paving projects slated for the Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant, or LMIG, funded by the Georgia Department of Transportation. Projects include about 10 miles of paving for a total $740,307.05, with $480,411.63 of that funded by the state.

The LMIG is a new state grant, which used to be the Local Assistance Road Program, or LARP. The new grant is different because it hands off projects to the county and reimburses the county after confirming the money has been spent on approved projects, where LARP projects would be managed by the state using local contributions.

The local share also increases with LMIG – where LARP covered 90 percent of costs, LMIG covers 70 percent, Emery said. The local share comes from SPLOST funds.

One reason for the change in local share of the funding is the recent passage of the transportation referendum, sometimes referred to as “T-SPLOST,” in certain regions. Areas that passed the referendum get the previous 90 percent reimbursement, while other areas, like Troup County, that voted down the referendum get the lower 70 percent reimbursement.

Emery said the change is positive, though, because it gives the county more control over how its allocation of the state funds is spent.

Roads slated for work next year under the LMIG are:

•Bill Taylor Road from the Harris County line to Ely Callaway Road, 1.4 miles;

•Floyd Road from Oak Grove Road to Salem Road, 2.36 miles;

•Smith Road from Mobley Bridge Road to Youngs Mill Road, 1.11 miles;

•Blue Creek Road from the Meriwether County line to Hogansville city limit, 2.1 miles;

•Sportsman Club Road from Blue Creek Road, o.23 miles;

•Valley Road from Blue Creek Road, 0.45 miles; and

•Wares Cross Road from Mooty Bridge Road to Robert Hayes Road, 2.52 miles.