A jail-rental program that's brought in more than $73 million in the past decade has some McHenry County officials wondering if local taxpayers are subsidizing it.
The program rents unused jail beds to the U.S. Marshals Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Local officials say the $85-a-day per-bed rate is not keeping pace with rising jail costs.
A lobbyist the county hired used a federal formula to determine the actual per-day cost is $131.
The average federal-detainee population in the program - that expires at the end of 2015- has dropped about 50 percent from 2011. The daily high was 350. This year it's 180.
Federal officials respond that some nearby jails in Wisconsin charge as little at $60.
