Columbiana sheriff to double fees for services

LISBON -- The Columbiana County Sheriff's Department is doubling its fees for certain services, which will provide money for the department to upgrade its equipment.
Commissioners approved a resolution Wednesday authorizing the creation of a capital improvement fund in which half the fee revenue can be placed.
The sheriff's department is estimating it will bring in about $200,000 annually with the higher fees, which take effect Sept. 24. Previously, the fees produced about $100,000 annually.
The new fee schedule will put about $100,000 per year into the capital improvement fund to help buy computers, vehicles and other items needed by the department. The other $100,000 will go into the county's general fund as it always has.
The fees being doubled apply to the serving of various papers and transporting prisoners.
Action by the state Legislature allows the fee boost. Sheriff department officials says it is the first such increase in the past 20 years.