By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

Now that the location of a new jail and courthouse for Fayette County has been decided, county commissioners hope to decide within the next month how to finance the $60 million project.

Commissioners last week voted unanimously to proceed with their original plan to add onto the current jail, use the current courthouse for sheriff's offices and build a new three-story court facility next door.

Plans to use the current 65-acre site, between Lee Street and Jimmie Mayfield Boulevard in downtown Fayetteville, brought a storm of protest in recent months from about 300 residents of the immediate area, and more recently has resulted in a recall action being filed against all five commissioners (see related story).

Commissioners slowed their building plans down long enough to have a public hearing Jan. 6 to see if residents could present any “compelling reasons” why the plan, developed last spring, should be changed in favor of alternative sites.

But members of the county governing body, saying the current site is still the best one, voted during their business meeting last Thursday to stay the course.

“I think it's something we have to do,” said Commissioner Herb Frady before casting his vote. “I firmly believe this is the best place for the jail for the entire county... the entire community,” said Commissioner Linda Wells.

Commissioners said changing plans and moving to a new site would mean abandoning the current facilities and adding millions of dollars to the cost of the project.

Commissioner Greg Dunn, a member of the two-person jail planning committee along with Herb Frady, said this week he hopes the financing question can be on the commission agenda at one if its two Thursday night meetings in February, either Feb. 10 or Feb. 24.

“There are a lot of options to consider,” he said, “and if we want to put anything on the ballot, we need time to accomplish it.”

Commissioners would want to put the issue on the regular General Election ballot in November, rather than having to have a special election, he said.

But financing for the jail may not be placed on a ballot at all. One option commissioners have discussed is having the county facilities authority issue bonds with no public vote, an option that would allow for lower interest rate bonds than the usual general obligation bonds that require a public vote.

Other options for financing the project include a special purpose local option sales tax and using the federal Certificates of Participation program.

Rough estimates are that a sales tax would cost the average household about $1,500 over five years; general obligation bonds would cost about $1,750 spread over 30 years; facilities authority bonds would cost about $1,300 over 30 years, and COPS would cost just over that, about $1,315.