By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

How to come up with about $60 million for a new jail and courthouse will be on the minds of Fayette County commissioners when they meet tomorrow.

Commissioner Greg Dunn, who has been designated the commission's official spokesman for the project, said recently he hopes the group will make a final decision during its twice-monthly meeting tomorrow, so the county can get on with the project.

The work already is running about a year behind commissioners' earlier expectations because of a change in plans early last year.

Late in 1998, commissioners had decided to tear down the existing jail and courthouse off Lee Street in Fayetteville and build completely new facilities on a 30-acre parcel the county owned just south of the current courthouse. But when new commissioners were elected late in `98 and took office in January 1999, they decided to take a new look.

After quietly buying up several parcels between the old site and the new site, commissioners fashioned a new plan for the newly created 65-acre property to expand the existing jail, use the existing courthouse for sheriff's offices and related facilities, and build a new courthouse, with space left over for a park and a future county administrative building.

Included in the plan is space for future expansion of the jail as well.

Facilities under the new plan will face away from Lee Street and onto Jimmie Mayfield Boulevard, on its east side.

Construction plans have been slowed further by opposition to the downtown site. About 300 residents of subdivisions nearby have steadfastly protested, saying at least the new jail should be moved out of the downtown area.

Commissioners postponed action and conducted a public hearing Jan. 6, but said afterward they didn't hear anything that changed their minds about the location. They took an official vote Jan. 27 to permanently approve the site and authorized consultant Jim Mallett and Associates to start detailed design work.

Following that meeting, Dunn said he hopes a financing plan can be adopted in February.

“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 recently activated 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 general obligation bonds or a special purpose local option sales tax, either of which would require a public vote, or obtaining a loan under the state Certificates of Participation program, which does not require a vote.

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.

Commissioners will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday at the County Administrative Complex.