The Butler County Prison Board on Tuesday agreed to raise the cost of meals in the prison by 25 cents to $1.76 each for the rest of the year.

Board members unanimously voted in favor of the price increase that was requested by the contractor, Trinity Food Services.

Warden Joe DeMore said Trinity asked for the increase to cover increasing supply costs.

The county pays the meal costs for inmates and prison employees, he said.

This year is the final year of the contract with Trinity. The higher meal cost will increase the county’s total cost by $100,000 to about $917,000.

DeMore said Trinity is also asking other counties to raise prison meal prices to help cover its rising expenses.

Solicitor Will White said the price increase must be regional to be fair.

Nutrition Inc. charges Westmoreland County 88 cents per meal at its prison, White said.

Controller Benjamin Holland said Nutrition Inc. has another contract with the county’s Area Agency on Aging.

He suggested issuing a request for proposals for prison meals.

DeMore said the county can renew the contract with Trinity or issue a request for proposal. The proposal request would have to be issued this summer to have a new contract in place by the time the current contract expires, he said.

Trinity has had the contract since the prison opened in 2009, he added.

In other business, 75% of the 429 inmates have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Of those inmates, 223 have been committed by federal courts, 10 are state inmates and two are from other counties.

As of Tuesday, no employees or inmates had tested positive for COVID-19 and no one was in quarantine, DeMore said.

In January, $18,000 to $19,000, or 75%, of the $23,000 spent on overtime was due to COVID-19-related issues, he said.

COVID-19 issues persisted in February but have leveled off, he said.

Commissioner Leslie Osche said total wage costs are down from last year, balancing the overtime costs.

DeMore said newly hired employees replacing more tenured employees with higher wages has contributed to lower wage costs.

The board also approved hiring eight regular part-time and irregular correction officers to fill vacant positions. The hiring increases the number of part-time officers to 20 and the number of irregular officers to five or six, he said.

Regular part-time officers are scheduled to work 32 hours a week with the option of working 40 hours at $21 an hour with benefits for themselves.

An irregular officer is a casual employee who can work no more than 1,350 hours per year at $18 an hour with no benefits.