Supes may okay another $2.9M debt for law enforcement telecommunications without voter approval
A referendum asking for funding for construction of a new county jail will be on the Greene County ballot in the Nov. 8 general election.
The county supervisors at their July 25 meeting heard from Heidi Kuhl of Northland Securities and Kristin Billingsley Cooper of Ahlers & Cooney – the firms the county used for the issuance of general obligation bonds for the construction of the Career Academy – what the options and process would be to issue bonds for a new jail.
Under consideration is the issuance of $12 million in general obligation bonds to cover the construction of a jail. The proposal is for a 24-cell jail adjacent to the Law Enforcement Center at the former Midland Power location on E. Lincoln Way in Jefferson.
ISG of Des Moines provided a preliminary plan that pegs the cost at $9 million if it were built now. The additional $3 million is assuming construction costs will continue their current skyrocketing trajectory.
Kuhl provided information showing a levy rate of $1.06 (per thousand dollars of taxable valuation) would be required to pay debt service on a $12 million general obligation bond over 19 years.
A general obligation bond issue would require an election with at least 60 percent approval.
The supervisors agreed, although no motion was made, to start the process to place the question on the Nov. 8 ballot.
The supervisors last November appointed a jail advisory committee to gather information about the current condition of the county jail, make recommendations to the supervisors concerning the future of the jail, and inform the public about actions taken by the board of supervisors concerning the jail. Members of the committee are sheriff Jack Williams, county attorney Thomas Laehn, supervisor Dawn Rudolph, former sheriff Tom Heater, and Johnathan Marshall, Scott Weber and Anthony Minnehan.
It will be the job of the jail committee to promote approval of the referendum.
Funding a new communications tower and its $2.9 million price tag was also discussed.
Kuhl explained that the tower would be an “essential county purpose” and the supervisors could take on debt to cover the cost by holding a public hearing and then approving a resolution. No election would be required.
Williams alerted the supervisors of the need for a new tower last month, saying that the current tower provides good service while deputies and officers are in their vehicles, but not when they’re on the streets or in a building. New radios for every fire truck and ambulance in the county are included in the $2.9 million.
Kuhl did not provide information about the levy rate needed to fund payment on that debt, but she didn’t disagree that it would be approximately one-fourth the levy for jail.
A recommendation to use the public hearing route to fund debt to pay for telecommunications improvements would come from the E911 board.
There was discussion of combining the two projects for one referendum. Kuhl advised that it would be “confusing” to the public and advised the supervisors use the ballot question for only the jail.
According to supervisor Mick Burkett, using the public hearing route for the smaller debt “sounds like the only way to go. Putting them together will only confuse people.”
Regardless, the two separate bonds could be combined for one bond sale to save administrative costs.
