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Article published Jan 6, 2009 'Timing ... terrible:' Committee says it's not right time for jail expansion
By Joel Davis of The Daily Times Staff
The Blount County Budget Committee on Monday declined to recommend the construction of a new pod at the county jail, citing concerns with the timing of the proposal in these trying economic times.
County Mayor Jerry Cunningham said that county residents were questioning the recommendation from the Jail Overcrowding Ad Hoc Committee to finance the construction of a new pod through the revenue from housing federal prisoners.
"I've had a lot of calls on this," Cunningham said. "The timing just seems to be terrible because ... we can't go to the bond market now. The (Prospect Elementary School) is being put off. I'm troubled at the timing of all this. People are wondering how we can look at a jail pod when we're not going to be able to do that school for a while."
"I don't see how we can do this," Commissioner Kenneth Melton added. "The timing is wrong. I'm getting a lot of feedback. I really feel like it's the wrong time to do this. I can't support it."
The Budget Committee voted not to recommend pursuing the project at this time. Instead, it recommended that the county solicit cost estimates for building the pod from potential construction management firms.
"I'm not recommending we build it, but that we simply bring somebody on board to bring us dollar amounts," Blount County Commission Chairman Steve Samples said. "It's a look-see. I'm not interested in starting this project right now at all."
The County Commission tasked the committee with figuring out the true cost of housing federal prisoners after the Tennessee Corrections Institute decertified the jail in August due to overcrowding.
Samples served as the chair of the Jail Overcrowding Ad Hoc Committee. He said, despite that committee's recommendation, that he couldn't vote to build the new jail pod at this time.
"We all agreed that the numbers were correct," Samples said "They bore out exactly what was being reported. ... (but) I don't think this is the time to be taking on any new debt. When we plan the next budget. We have to be very conservative in our planning."
The daily rate that the U.S. Marshals Service pays to house federal inmates in the Blount County Jail is $58.50 per inmate. Previously, County Finance Director Dave Bennett estimated a $7 million bond for the project could be paid off in 10 years with the county receiving about $3.6 million in net revenues if the county houses about 250 federal inmates daily. The break-even point for the county on the project would be housing 221 federal prisoners.
On Nov. 30, there were 443 prisoners housed in the jail -- 164 federal, 66 state and 213 local. About half of the state prisoners were supposed to be in state custody but there were no available beds in state prisons. The jail is only certified for 350.
It will be up to Sheriff James Berrong to adjust the jail population levels, Cunningham said
Bennett said that the sheriff would need to reduce the federal prisoner population by about 40 but could hopefully maintain enough for the county to break even.
"We've got to send some of them back to get certified," Bennett said. "... We would hope we could hold it even or at least close."
The Fiscal Year 2008-2009 jail budget is $7.1 million. Boarding federal prisoners will bring in an estimated $3.5 million by the end of the current fiscal year. The additional revenue is used to offset the costs of operating the jail.
About 55 percent of the federal prisoners are being held in the Blount County Jail while awaiting trial on drug charges, about 22 percent are being held on weapons charges, and about 6.7 percent are being held while awaiting trial on bank robbery charges. A small number are awaiting trial for other offenses, including sex offenses, carjacking, counterfeiting and kidnapping, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
Removing federal prisoners completely from the Blount County Jail would save the county about $270,755 in salaries and operating expenditures annually, but require the County Commission to find the equivalent of about 5 cents on the property tax to plug the resulting budget hole from loss of revenue.