The Madison County Quorum Court has passed a resolution to issue bonds and collect a sales tax for construction of a new jail.
Voters on Nov. 8 approved a 0.5% sales tax for a maximum $16.9 million bond issue to finance construction of a new jail and sheriff's office. But voters rejected a 1.25% sales tax to pay for maintenance and operation of the facility.
County Judge Frank Weaver said the county will begin collecting the sales tax on April 1.
Weaver said there will be more discussion before final decisions are made regarding the jail. He said a site has yet to be selected, and another sales tax could go before the public to pay for maintenance and operation of the facility.
Weaver said it would cost about $16 million to build a 148-bed jail. He said a 0.5% sales tax would bring in about $1.1 million per year based on current collection rates.
Weaver said the 0.5% tax would sunset when the bonds are paid off. The 1.25% tax would have been perpetual.
According to the resolution, county officials are authorized to work with Friday, Eldredge & Clark LLP as bond counsel and Stephens Inc. as underwriter to prepared documents for the bond issue.
If construction could start in 2024, Weaver said, the building could be in use by mid-2025.
On three previous occasions, Madison County asked voters to approve a sales tax to help fund construction of a new jail or at least an addition to the existing jail. The tax proposals were rejected all three times.
Luke Dotson, a member of the Quorum Court, said he thinks the county should scale back the proposal to a 75-bed jail.
"The jail doesn't necessarily have to be as big as we first thought," he said.
The county could then ask voters to approve a smaller tax for maintenance and operation, said Dotson.
"A smaller jail just cuts the whole operations bill in half," he said.
The 0.5% tax passed by voters on Nov. 8 didn't specify the size of the jail or number of beds.
Dotson said Madison County has fewer than 17,000 residents, but it's considering a jail the size of counties' with twice the population. He said the county could build a smaller jail now, then go back to the voters later if more money is needed to expand the facility.
Weaver said Madison County has between 40 and 60 inmates housed in other jails at any given time, and "we're releasing that many more who need to be in jail."
"Why would you build a jail that doesn't even meet your needs now?" he said. "If you're going to build a facility, build it for 20 or 30 years down the road. Building costs are only going to increase as time goes on."
Weaver said it would be difficult to get voters to approve another jail construction tax while they're paying the 0.5% approved by voters last month.
In 2014, the state's 4th District Criminal Detention Facilities Review Committee found that the Madison County jail -- which was built in the early 1980s to accommodate eight beds -- didn't comply with state standards, so it was converted to a 24-hour holding facility.
From 2015 until the end of 2021, Madison County's longer-term detainees were held in the Washington County jail -- 30 miles to the west in Fayetteville. But with that jail overcrowded, Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder ended the agreement.
Since then, Madison County Sheriff Rick Evans has been housing his detainees at various jails around the state that have room. Besides the cost of paying other counties to house detainees, transportation has been a factor since some of the Madison County detainees are housed as far away as the Lafayette County jail in Lewisville, about 300 miles to the south.
SouthBuild Team of Collierville, Tenn., has been consulting with Madison County on the proposed jail project.
There will be some changes next month. Weaver is retiring after 12 years as county judge. Seven of the nine members of the Quorum Court will be new (Dotson lost his race for reelection). Weaver said the county will also have a new sheriff, county clerk, circuit clerk, treasurer, assessor and collector.