Lee County expects to spend less on the regional jail this year. The 2026-27 budget sets aside $2,830,795 for jail operations, down from $3,425,542 the year before, a drop of $594,747, or about 17%, by The Lee Daily Register’s calculation from the board’s June 29 minutes and the June 25, 2025 minutes.
That follows a year when the bill jumped. The county’s share is based on a daily rate for each of its inmates held by the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority, and both the rate and the count change from year to year.
How the bill is set
The authority’s own budget shows the math. Its preliminary budget for the year that ended June 30, 2026, reprinted in a Russell County budget document, projected 145 Lee County inmates, eight more than the year before. It raised the per diem localities pay for operations from $39.40 to $49.69 a day, an increase of about 26%, and the debt service rate from $8.62 to $10.08.
Under that budget, Lee County’s operating share rose from $1,866,219.40 to $2,637,248.93, and its debt service share from $402,553.19 to $534,751.77. Together, that is about $3.17 million, up roughly $903,000, or about 40%. Then-County Administrator Robby Wright had warned the board in May 2025 that the jail would cost about $1 million more than the year before, according to the May 20, 2025 minutes. He put the budgeted cost at $3,018,860.70, and the minutes do not explain the difference from the authority’s table.
Lee County was not alone. Scott County was projected at the same 145 inmates and the same bills. Washington County’s operating share rose by more than $1 million, while Wise County’s fell after its projected count dropped by 50.
Why the count matters
Supervisors have complained about inmates the state should be housing. In January 2025, Wright told the board about an email from Delegate Terry Kilgore’s office. It said Kilgore and Senator Todd Pillion had met with the jail’s director and that a lot of inmates would be transferred within the next couple of weeks. By May 2025, Wright reported a significant decrease in state-responsible inmates.
The issue came up again in April 2026, when Supervisor Brian Shoemaker said a person sentenced to 16 years on June 24, 2025 was not moved out of the regional jail until April 2, 2026, according to the April 21 minutes. Supervisor D.D. Leonard said that after he raised the cost and why Lee County has more than other counties, he no longer receives those numbers.
At the same meeting, County Administrator Clint Carter, who joined the jail authority’s board in February, said preliminary numbers pointed to “a small decrease in cost for next year based on the number of inmates.” The minutes do not give the new per diem or inmate count behind this year’s lower budget line, and The Lee Daily Register did not find the authority’s 2026-27 budget online.
Settling up
The bills come quarterly, with a reckoning at year’s end. In March 2025, the board approved a fourth-quarter invoice of $567,193.15 on a 4 to 1 vote, with Leonard voting no, according to the March 18, 2025 minutes. Wright had predicted a year-end true-up of around $100,000, but the reconciliation invoice the county paid in October 2025 was $36,015.97.
Some money is coming back. In December 2025, Wright reported that the county had overpaid its jail debt service by $177,886.59, which it would receive, according to the December 16 minutes. The minutes through September 15, 2026 do not say when that refund arrived.
