By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@TheCitizenNews.com

Impact fees could help fund Fayette County's jail/courthouse construction, but more questions have to be answered, and time may be running out.

How much help can be gotten from impact fees depends upon numerous factors, county commissioners learned during their annual planning retreat Saturday. The fees are charges levied against developers to help pay for new government facilities and services made necessary by their developments.

County attorney Dennis Davenport told commissioners Saturday that the county can use impact fees to pay for the jail, but only the part that will be made necessary future growth, not the part that is necessary already because of previous growth.

Because the jail, built in 1981 to house 86 inmates a day, is now housing about 200, the portion of the work that would expand capacity to 200 must be paid by current residents, and impact fees can be used only to help defray the cost of housing for about 259 more inmates per day that are expected in the future.

But how much help the county can expect from impact fees depends on the answers to some other questions:

Can Fayette's cities be persuaded to allow collection of jail impact fees from their residents? Commissioners expressed doubt, but commission Chairman Harold Bost said he wants to talk it over with city leaders anyway.

“I want to go to the cities and give them the opportunity to participate,” said Bost, adding that the jail will serve the entire county, not just residents of the unincorporated area. “I would like to give them the opportunity to tie into this thing and help fund it,” said Bost.

Commissioner Herb Frady suggested that if cities don't help, the county should charge them a daily rate ($40 charged to the cities' 100 inmates, for instance, would raise $4,000 a day) to house prisoners their police departments arrest.

Can a bond issue for the jail be structured to factor in yearly impact fee payments?

Early payment of a bond requires refinancing, which carries a price tag, said finance director Emory McHugh. But if the county issues a smaller bond based on anticipated impact fees, and then slower growth brings about lower impact fees than anticipated, there will be a shortfall in paying for the jail, commissioners said.

According to state law, must the county have an overall capital improvements plan that includes the jail in order to charge fees for its construction?

Commissioners directed Davenport to research that question, and asked Chris Venice, chairman of the Impact Fee Committee, to estimate how much impact fee the county could charge for each new home, under state law, to help pay for the jail.

They hope to settle on a method for paying for the jail and courthouse by the end of this month.