Noting that it?s not ?if? but ?when? Grundy County will build a new jail, a representative of a bonding company told the Grundy County Law Enforcement Committee that it will never be less expensive to construct a new law enforcement facility than it is right now.
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Noting that it?s not ?if? but ?when? Grundy County will build a new jail, a representative of a bonding company told the Grundy County Law Enforcement Committee that it will never be less expensive to construct a new law enforcement facility than it is right now.
Greg Bricker of George K. Baum and Company met with the committee to discuss what the payments would be if funds were secured to construct a new law enforcement facility. Committee members viewed plans from Ken West of ArchitectsWest during a meeting last week and Bricker, using cost estimates for those plans, presented information on what the actual payments would be for each facility if it were constructed using a one-half cent sales tax.
Option ?A? is a 20-bed county-only facility, with a cost estimate of $2.57 million. Lease payments for that project would run the county from $253,400 in 2006 to $329,100 in 2025, with General Revenue appropriations totaling as much as $39,550 in 2007 to $15,457 in 2025. Estimated sales tax collections are listed at $430,000 in 2006, increasing to around $626,429 in 2025 based on a 2.5 percent increase per year.
Option ?B? is a 20-bed city/county combined facility estimated at $2.986 million. This facility would include additional office space for city law enforcement officers as well as space for the 911 dispatching center. Financially speaking, the main difference between this option and option ?A? are that lease payments would run from $288,329 in 2006 to $370,325 in 2025 and General Revenue appropriations would be over $70,000 for most years.
Option ?C? is a 36-bed city/county facility estimated at $3.58 million. Lease payments for this facility would run from a low of $336,846 in 2006 to a high of $436,075 in 2025. General Revenue allocations would run between $120,000 and $137,000 during the 20-year period.
Bricker had also figured in an additional $500,000 that would be used to pay for furnishings, land acquisition, site development, parking lots, etc.
Officials plan to seek a one-half cent sales tax to pay for the construction of a facility, but there has been concern about having enough money to operate it once it is constructed. Bricker addressed that concern.
?Having the money to operate a jail is a bigger issue than having the money to build the jail,? he said, also noting that the county is only going to pay more for a jail facility later if the issue does not pass on its next try.
?The cost of the project is growing at a faster rate than the sales tax,? he said. ?It?s not really a question of if you?re going to replace your jail, it?s when you?re going to replace it. When you start looking at the dynamics of the matter it?s never going to be cheaper than it is today.?
County commissioners have said they would hope that by passing a sales tax for a law enforcement center, some of the funds currently being used from General Revenue could be diverted to other county needs. Option ?B? would continue to require around $70,000 per year in General Revenue funds, while Option ?C? would require even more General Revenue funds to be used for law enforcement.
There was some discussion of whether or not a sales tax issue should have a sunset on it, but no decisions were made on that issue. Bricker said that could affect a vote, as could the location of the facility. The committee also discussed the possibility of securing a grant to help pay for land acquisition.
Although the county commission had hoped to vote Tuesday night on whether or not the issue would be placed on the February ballot, the co-chairmen, Allen Berry and Allan Seidel, were unable to attend the meeting, as was Presiding Commissioner Kenny Roberts. Committee members decided to take a week to digest the information they were given and meet again at 7 p.m. on Nov. 23 at which time they will vote on whether or not to place a sales tax issue on the February ballot. The deadline for the county commission to certify the issue for the February election is Tuesday, Nov. 30.