July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Jail project gets initial green light (07/02/08)
By By STEVE GARBACZ-
The county is officially moving forward with the Jay County Jail expansion project after its first public hearing Tuesday.
Commissioners Milo Miller Jr. and Faron Parr adopted a resolution making a preliminary determination to enter into a lease for the project Tuesday afternoon. The signed resolution is regarded as the first step toward public approval and the process for borrowing money that will be needed for proposed expansion.
From this step forward, petitions will begin to circulate around the county. Officials will need at least 100 signatures of registered voters or property owners to authorize the expansion for a November referendum, which will allow the people to vote yea or nay on the multi-million dollar facility upgrade.
The resolution was signed immediately after the first public hearing closed. The meeting was an opportunity for residents to get more information about why a jail expansion is needed and what it's going to cost taxpayers.
Miller was upfront with that information at the start of the hearing.
"It's going to raise your taxes 11 or 12 cents on the $100" assessed valuation, he said before turning the floor over to the presenters.
Sheriff Ray Newton told attendees about the slew of problems with the current facility including broken cell doors, heating and air conditioning inadequacies, nonfunctional fire alarms, outdated circuit breakers, lack of staff and, of course, overcrowding.
"That jail was never designed for the population we have now," Newton said. The jail, originally designed with 27 beds, now has 55 beds available, and sees an average daily population around 45. "We need to try to make this facility more safe than it is now."
The current jail was built in 1984 after the state condemned the previous facility and mandated a new jail. Miller said the county, without a lot of available money, built a cost-effective building without much foresight of the future.
"It was built as more or less a bare bones outfit to get the monkey off our back," he said.
Jeff Badders, from SchenkelShultz Architecture in Fort Wayne, spoke next, explaining the potential design and how it will be a major increase in efficiency.
The expansion would establish a pod-style cellblock. The pod is a two-story group of cells positioned around a central monitoring station. This style allows fewer jailers to monitor more prisoners. The planned expansion would about double the capacity of the jail but would only require five more jailers than the current 10.
The new construction would also free up space for administration and storage, two areas cramped by the aging jail.
Greg Guerrettaz, financial adviser, presented the money side of the project. The construction is estimated to cost $6.8 million and the county would bond $10.25 million to cover all expenses.
"That is the maximum and high side estimate," he said.
Guerrettaz introduced the estimated tax rate for Jay County to pay for the bonds. He said residents could expect a rate of 11.38 cents per $100 of assessed value.
He gave an example of what effect this would have on taxpayers. For a $150,000 home, after a $45,000 homestead credit and $3,000 mortgage credit, the assessed value would be $102,000. Multiplied by the rate, it would come to $117 per year, just under $10 per month.
Guerrettaz said this was a good time to build an expansion, since Jay County government currently has no outstanding bonds to worry about.
"That's a great starting point," he said. "For the county as a whole, we're sitting in good shape."
The commissioners and jail committee members closed the meeting by letting the attendees know that if the expansion isn't built, the county is still going to have to sink a lot of money into repairs and code-upgrades on the current facility to keep it running until a new jail can be built.
"We are going to dump a lot of money into (repairing) it," Newton said.
"All the money we're spending now is a Band-Aid," said county council member Fred Bailey.
The jail committee and commissioners set tentative dates to hold more public hearings in the evening and schedule open houses at the jail. Those meetings are planned for September and October.[[In-content Ad]]This isn't an exact figure, but it should provide a fairly close idea of what the proposed jail expansion will cost property taxpayers.
•Take the assessed value of your home.
Example: $150,000
•Subtract homestead credit - If the value is more than $75,000, subtract $45,000 for your credit. If the value is less than $75,000, multiply by 0.6 and subtract that number as your credit.
Example: $150,000 - $45,000 = $105,000
•Subtract mortgage or age credit - Subtract $3,000 if you have a mortgage or are over 65 years of age.
Example: $105,000 - $3,000 = $102,000
•Apply the rate - Take your remaining total, divide by 100 then multiply by 0.115
Example: $102,000 / 100 = $1,020
$102,000 x .115 = $117.30 per year. - Source: Jail project financial consultant Greg Guerretaz
Commissioners Milo Miller Jr. and Faron Parr adopted a resolution making a preliminary determination to enter into a lease for the project Tuesday afternoon. The signed resolution is regarded as the first step toward public approval and the process for borrowing money that will be needed for proposed expansion.
From this step forward, petitions will begin to circulate around the county. Officials will need at least 100 signatures of registered voters or property owners to authorize the expansion for a November referendum, which will allow the people to vote yea or nay on the multi-million dollar facility upgrade.
The resolution was signed immediately after the first public hearing closed. The meeting was an opportunity for residents to get more information about why a jail expansion is needed and what it's going to cost taxpayers.
Miller was upfront with that information at the start of the hearing.
"It's going to raise your taxes 11 or 12 cents on the $100" assessed valuation, he said before turning the floor over to the presenters.
Sheriff Ray Newton told attendees about the slew of problems with the current facility including broken cell doors, heating and air conditioning inadequacies, nonfunctional fire alarms, outdated circuit breakers, lack of staff and, of course, overcrowding.
"That jail was never designed for the population we have now," Newton said. The jail, originally designed with 27 beds, now has 55 beds available, and sees an average daily population around 45. "We need to try to make this facility more safe than it is now."
The current jail was built in 1984 after the state condemned the previous facility and mandated a new jail. Miller said the county, without a lot of available money, built a cost-effective building without much foresight of the future.
"It was built as more or less a bare bones outfit to get the monkey off our back," he said.
Jeff Badders, from SchenkelShultz Architecture in Fort Wayne, spoke next, explaining the potential design and how it will be a major increase in efficiency.
The expansion would establish a pod-style cellblock. The pod is a two-story group of cells positioned around a central monitoring station. This style allows fewer jailers to monitor more prisoners. The planned expansion would about double the capacity of the jail but would only require five more jailers than the current 10.
The new construction would also free up space for administration and storage, two areas cramped by the aging jail.
Greg Guerrettaz, financial adviser, presented the money side of the project. The construction is estimated to cost $6.8 million and the county would bond $10.25 million to cover all expenses.
"That is the maximum and high side estimate," he said.
Guerrettaz introduced the estimated tax rate for Jay County to pay for the bonds. He said residents could expect a rate of 11.38 cents per $100 of assessed value.
He gave an example of what effect this would have on taxpayers. For a $150,000 home, after a $45,000 homestead credit and $3,000 mortgage credit, the assessed value would be $102,000. Multiplied by the rate, it would come to $117 per year, just under $10 per month.
Guerrettaz said this was a good time to build an expansion, since Jay County government currently has no outstanding bonds to worry about.
"That's a great starting point," he said. "For the county as a whole, we're sitting in good shape."
The commissioners and jail committee members closed the meeting by letting the attendees know that if the expansion isn't built, the county is still going to have to sink a lot of money into repairs and code-upgrades on the current facility to keep it running until a new jail can be built.
"We are going to dump a lot of money into (repairing) it," Newton said.
"All the money we're spending now is a Band-Aid," said county council member Fred Bailey.
The jail committee and commissioners set tentative dates to hold more public hearings in the evening and schedule open houses at the jail. Those meetings are planned for September and October.[[In-content Ad]]This isn't an exact figure, but it should provide a fairly close idea of what the proposed jail expansion will cost property taxpayers.
•Take the assessed value of your home.
Example: $150,000
•Subtract homestead credit - If the value is more than $75,000, subtract $45,000 for your credit. If the value is less than $75,000, multiply by 0.6 and subtract that number as your credit.
Example: $150,000 - $45,000 = $105,000
•Subtract mortgage or age credit - Subtract $3,000 if you have a mortgage or are over 65 years of age.
Example: $105,000 - $3,000 = $102,000
•Apply the rate - Take your remaining total, divide by 100 then multiply by 0.115
Example: $102,000 / 100 = $1,020
$102,000 x .115 = $117.30 per year. - Source: Jail project financial consultant Greg Guerretaz
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