The law requires that if a judge sentences a felon to the county jail, the sheriff in that county must provide housing. Cox said the problem includes overcrowding. Thomas said currently there are only 68 available beds in county jails statewide. However, several new jail expansion projects are under way across the state.

To complicate things, counties have been asking the state to cover costs of transportation and medical expenses associated with certain inmates.

"The intent (of the agreement) was to take the politics out. Instead the Legislature has inserted the politics back in," Thomas said, adding that if the state depends on county jails to house 20 percent of state inmates, the lawmakers should honor their commitment.

The root of the controversy goes back to the early '90s, said Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem. At that time, the effort to consolidate courts led to the state taking over all courts that handle felony charges, making any convicted felon ordered to incarceration a state prisoner.

Valentine said there were trade-offs with the counties. "Those trade-offs dealt with the fact that we were operating all of the cost of the courts," and the counties were expected to handle the jails.

In what he called a "series of maneuvers," Valentine said, counties soon demanded that the state pay 100 percent of jail incarceration costs for these inmates. An agreement with then-House Speaker Marty Stephens resulted in the current 70 percent program.

"There's been this sort of schoolyard fight that's been going on over the past 20 years," Valentine said.

State officials suggest some county jails are billing the state for inmates not included under the agreement, contributing to the shortfall.

"This has got a long history," said Chris Mitchell, deputy director for the Utah Department of Corrections. "We've worked hard to make it work as well as we can."

Mitchell said there is an issue of county jails locating inmates for whom they think they can bill the state, but there is some question as to which inmates qualify.

Mitchell said this is a fight between the counties and the Legislature. "Corrections is the pass-through agency. We kind of monitor it and pay the bills," she said. But Corrections also supplies the projected numbers that the Legislature uses to estimate how much to budget each year. When asked how the numbers could fall short of the mark each year for the past 15 or so years, Mitchell said there were many factors.

According to Corrections, more judges are sending felons to do jail time as opposed to prison. From 1997, the number of offenders sent to jail has increased by 55 percent. The length of sentences has also increased. Since 1997, the average sentence has risen from 119 days to 170 days, a 43 percent increase.

"The increase is astounding; every year it's huge," Mitchell said.

Valentine said the only way to clear the picture is to conduct an audit of the jail reimbursement program.

"Maybe it is time to do a legislative audit of the counties," Valentine said. "Without an audit, I think it will continue to fester as a debate."

Currently, the request for an audit of the program is third on the Legislature's priority list for audits.

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E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com