(a) Daily Fee Imposed for Incarceration. In addition to all other costs, penalties or fines assessed, there is hereby imposed a Fee, as defined in paragraph (b) hereof, upon persons sentenced to confinement in a Regional Jail, when those persons have been convicted and incarcerated in a Regional Jail by virtue of said conviction in connection with violating a municipal ordinance of the City. The Fee shall be used exclusively to offset the cost to the City of housing such person in a Regional Jail.
(b) Fee Imposed. The Fee shall be in an amount not to exceed the daily rate charged to the City by the Regional Jail for the incarceration of the person convicted, as such rates may be set from time to time by the West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority times the total number of days the person is incarcerated, provided however that in no event shall the Fee be in excess of the cost to the City for the incarceration of the convicted person for a period of more than thirty days.
(c) Hearing. Prior to a person being assessed the Fee under this Section 171.10
, a hearing shall be held to determine the person's ability to pay. A person shall not be sentenced to pay the Fee permitted to be charged to the person under this Section 171.10
unless he or she is or will be, in the foreseeable future, able to pay the Fee. In determining the amount and method of payment, the person's financial resources and the nature of the burden that payment will impose shall be taken into account. At the discretion of the Municipal Judge, the Fee may be modified or waived in whole or in part provided that the Fee may not exceed the formula amount set forth in paragraph (b) hereof.
(d) Petition for a Reduction in the Amount Imposed. A person who has been assessed the Fee under this Section 171.10
who is not in willful default in the payment thereof may, at any time, petition the Municipal Court for a reduction or remission of the payment of costs or of any unpaid portion of the costs. If it appears to the satisfaction of the Municipal Court that the payment of the amount due will impose manifest hardship on the convicted person or the convicted person's family or dependents, the Municipal Court may excuse payment of all or part of the amount due in costs, or modify the method of payment. (W.Va. Code § 7-8-14).
(e) Regional Jail. Regional Jail shall mean any facility operated by the West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority and used jointly by two or more counties for the confinement, custody, supervision or control of adult persons convicted of misdemeanors or awaiting trial or awaiting transportation to a state correctional facility and shall include but not be limited to the South Central Regional Jail. (Ord. 682. Passed 10-15-12.)