Ordinances setting a July 12 election for a total 1 percent sales tax to finance construction and operation of a new county jail are on the Logan County Quorum Court meeting agenda for Monday.
The Quorum Court will meet at 7 p.m. in the courtroom at the courthouse in Paris.
The ordinances up for consideration would call on residents to vote on issuing up to $13 million in bonds to finance construction of a 100-bed county jail, which also would house the Logan County sheriff's office, arraignment room and administrative offices.
County officials are considering building the jail on 8 acres of county-owned property on the west side of Paris.
County Judge Ray Gack said he and bond counsel Stephens Inc. believe it will cost about $10 million to build the jail. But providing for up to $13 million in bonds would account for unexpected cost increases, such as fuel prices.
"We feel construction is going to stay in the $10 million range," he said. "We're not going to spend more than what it takes."
Circle M Construction Management of Ratcliff is the construction manager of the project and Biggerstaff Minden and Hall of Fort Smith is the architect, Gack said.
Having a construction manager from the county could increase the number of local subcontractors to work on the jail, keeping jobs and money in Logan County, he said.
Quorum Court members will vote on holding elections for two sales taxes that, if both passed, would equal 1 percent. According to the proposed ordinances, one tax would be .375, or three-eighths, percent, which would be used to pay off the jail construction bonds and would expire when they are paid off.
Gack said the .375 percent tax would generate nearly $800,000 a year. At that rate, it would take 20 years to pay off $10 million in bonds and interest.
The .625, or five-eighths, percent tax would be used to pay the additional cost to operate the larger jail. The tax would be permanent and would raise about $1.3 million a year, Gack said.
While the ordinances set out specific percentages for each tax, Gack said Quorum Court members will discuss and could change the tax apportionment at Monday's meeting. They could prefer to shift a larger percentage of the tax to pay off construction bonds quicker or to allot more for operating expenses, he said.
"We're going to let the whole Quorum Court look to see what works best," he said.
Plans are to build a jail with four sections. It would be built so jailers could monitor the whole facility using surveillance cameras and remote door-locking from a central control room. The configuration would reduce the number of jailers needed from three jailers per 10 inmates to one, according to Sheriff Boyd Hicks.
The sheriff now employs 12 full- and part-time jailers.
Gack said three of the four sections would be completed and occupied immediately. The fourth pod would be left as a shell to be finished and opened when growth triggers the need for more jail space.
When that space is filled and the county needs more room for prisoners, the county could build extensions on to the existing structure, Gack said.
Officials say Logan County has needed a new jail for a long time. The current jail, built in 1989, has a capacity of 34 inmates but often holds 40 or more. The overcrowding violates state jail regulations, and Hicks has said it creates a dangerous environment for inmates and jailers.
The lack of adequate space also prevents the sheriff from complying with regulations to separate felons from misdemeanor inmates, adjudicated inmates from those awaiting trial, and isolating inmates with psychiatric needs.
A larger jail can promote more compliance with the law. Hicks said in February that his office had more than 1,500 warrants waiting to be served. Arresting just 10 percent of them would overwhelm the jail.
But a larger capacity jail would increase the likelihood a person with a warrant could end up in jail, which could prompt the person to pay his fine and avoid jail time.
State Desk on 05/08/2016