The Renton City Council will vote Monday on a plan to build a regional jail to house inmates from seven cities in South King County, including Renton, and commit the city to help cover the cost of the roughly $100 million facility.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m at the council’s chambers on the seventh floor of Renton City Hall, 1055 S. Grady Way.

The city’s annual share of paying for constructing the 686-bed jail is estimated at about $2 million. The city has its own jail, which costs about $4 million each year to operate, according to Penny Bartley, manager of auxiliary services for the Renton Police Department who has spearheaded the jail issue for the city for a number of years.

The agreement the City Council is considering calls for the formation of a governmental administrative agency known as the South County Correctional Entity (SCORE), which would issue and serve bonds secured by the full faith and credit of the cities to provide for jail financing.

The cost to build the jail, including such items as development costs and the purchase of the land, is estimated at between $90 million and $100 million.

The seven cities, Renton, Auburn, Burien, Des Moines, Federal Way, SeaTac and Tukwila, are building the jail because King County no longer will accept their misdemeanor inmates after 2012 because its own jails are crowded.

King County gave the cities 10 years, starting in 2002, to find an alternative to county lockup.

The City of Renton also contracts for jail space with Yakima County. That contract expires on Dec. 31, 2010, but talks are continuing with Yakima County on whether the jail in Yakima will continue to accept the city’s inmates, according to Bartley.

However, Bartley said Yakima County has indicated there would be a significant increase in rates, perhaps 65 percent.

At that point, Bartley said, there is “no longer a financial incentive” to contract for jail space with Yakima County.

Renton is paying the most of the seven cities – 34 percent of the estimated $6.8 million in debt service each year – based on the average number of inmates it would house at the jail.

In 2007 the average daily population at the Renton jail was 115 inmates, which meant that 65 inmates were housed at other jails.

The seven cities have a preferred site in Des Moines, currently owned by the Port of Seattle. Bartley said the cities “have been in contact” with the port about purchasing the property.

The cities have two parcels as options; neither is in Renton, she said.

The goal is to begin construction late this year, with occupancy scheduled for mid-year 2011. The agreement with the county expires on Dec. 31, 2012.