The DeKalb County Commission’s Budget Committee has received new estimates for a proposed new jail construction, though the “bare bones” estimates admittedly do not contain all the jail and the sheriff’s department require.

The County Commission voted at their April meeting, to ask Treanor Architects and Bell Construction to come up with new estimates for the construction of a new jail at its current location as well as on a “green space” or a new location. The commission was also asking for the footprint and cost if the county were to purchase the additional half acre lot adjoining the current jail on the east side.

On Tuesday, June 3, the budget committee discussed the new estimates provided by Bell Construction. The estimates on a new site would be from $8.6 million to $9.3 million cheaper, depending on bed counts.

The pricing estimates for four scenarios on the DeKalb Jail Project are:

·         New site: 152 beds: $28,200,000

·         New site: 200 beds: $34,500,000

·         Existing site: 152 beds: $36,800,000

·         Existing site:200 beds: $43,800,000

No estimates were provided for the existing county property with the additional property purchase.

A new jail on the existing site would have to be a two-story structure, resulting in additional employees needed for staffing.  

County Mayor Matt Adcock explained how the proposed construction project could go from $63 million last year for a judicial center to $34 million this year for a jail.

“One reason how that they estimated that the next jail would be so cheap in talking to the architect is before we knew the courtrooms were approximately $10 to $11 million along with clerk offices and other spaces needed for a justice center. When they cut that off it became about a $52 million building which would be the jail without the justice center. What he explained to me was the reason it’s so much cheaper is the elimination of walls and other spaces compared to the plan presented before. He said its barely usable. It’s the cheapest barebones thing you could possibly ever do just to get by.”

“The new proposal has not been reviewed by the Tennessee Corrections Institute which has to certify it nor has Sheriff Patrick Ray had input. There are still a lot of things missing like an armory, impound lot, evidence room, detective offices, etc. so there are still some questions on what that building would look like, “said County Mayor Adcock.

The county commission adopted a budget with a 51-cent property tax increase last year for debt service (0.6160 total) to fund construction of a jail/judicial center through the issuance of bonds not to exceed $65 million. That project was defeated in a public referendum in November, but the 51-cent tax increase remains as part of the overall tax rate of $2.51 per $100 of assessed value.

Fiscal Agent Steve Bates recommends that the county keep the tax levy the same to not only fund a jail project, but future school construction. Bates presented to the budget committee assumptions on a jail debt service requirement on $29 million, $35 million, $37 million, and $44 million doing either 12-year notes, 20-year bonds, or 25-year bonds.

According to Bates, the debt service requirement on a new jail over 12 years would be $3, 080,000 on a $29,000,000 project; $3,717,000 on a $35,000,000 plan; $3,930,000 for a $37,000,000 option; and $4,675,000 on a $44,000,000 option.

“I wanted to see how much debt the county is taking on. Where are you going to be in 10 years. If the school #2 is out in 10 or 12 years, then where are we going to be. If you will remember when we first started talking about a judicial center and a new elementary school that would have put you over $130 million in debt. You didn’t want that so that’s where we had to regroup and that’s where we are today,” Bates continued.

“The school board has decided they want to buy land so now we are going to take $1.3 million (local option sales tax fund) and put it in their educational capital projects so they can plan for school building #2. We think it’s probably 10-12 years down the road.”

“If you do a 12-year jail we already know if you do $55 million for this (elementary) school (funded by local option sales tax revenue) you will owe on that school (elementary) in 10 years $42 million 195 thousand dollars. You’ll owe $5 million at 20 years on that jail and if that second school is $70 million it’s still going to take that 51 cents. I picked $70 million because that is what the 12-year amortization would be on a $35 or $37 million project and that’s about all based on these assumptions that $70 million will amortize at. That’s it,” said Bates.

The jail committee will meet again on Monday, June 16 at 6 p.m. in the auditorium of the county complex.