By Crysta Parkinson, News Editor
With a vote affirming commitment to build a new Williams County Correctional Center and Law Enforcement Center last week, the county board of commissioners now look to the voters for funding approval of the $14 million project.
The county will seek a temporary 1/2 percent sales tax on purchases made in the county to develop a revenue stream for the building project, which the board plans to make possible through a lease-to-own program offered by a Florida company called Correctional Properties Trust.
A timeline approved by the board sets a special election on the tax for February 2006, preceded by a month of information sessions throughout the county. The first question on the special election ballot would be a “home rule charter,” which would essentially grant the county permission to assess a sales tax, something it is unable to do under current rule. The second question would be the temporary 1/2 percent sales tax itself.
"There are only two options to fund (the project)," Commission Chair Dan Kalil explained Thursday. The first option is a bond, or property tax. The second is a sales tax.
"I think a sales tax is the fairest way, “ Kalil said. "I believe a sales tax is more palatable for the public.”
A 1/2 percent sales tax, based on this year's 2005 second quarter sales, would bring in approximately $1.5 million per year in revenue. That would mean the sales tax would have brought in $12 million at the end of year eight.
The commissioners would look to expect at least that much for each year the tax would be in place. "Our economy is expanding...and our economy will continue to expand," Kalil said.
A special debt service fund would be set up as part of the county budget, allowing money from the tax and other jail revenues to go into the fund to save up for the balloon payment that would buy out the jail.
The sales tax would not be the sole factor in buying out the lease, according to the plan presented. Two streams of revenue would go into the jail project, including jail revenues and tax revenues. With a larger facility, the county hopes to board additional inmates for other agencies. The higher the number of inmates in the facility, the higher that revenue stream would be.
With a population of 75 inmates, for instance, the revenue would be $1.77 million per year, according to the numbers presented at the meeting.
Other new sources of jail-related revenue will be explored, including phone banks in each pod, and video visiting.
"As we save this money to make the balloon payment in the future, we will be collecting interest on those monies," Kalil said. "In reality, that cuts into the interest we are paying for the facility."
Once the balance in the account was high enough to make the purchase, whether it had taken six years, or eight, or ten, Kalil said, the tax would sunset.
"I want to structure this in a way that once we have the money for it, we write the check (to pay off the jail), and the sales tax ends," Kalil said.
With a bond, the tax would need to be in place for somewhere around 25 years in order to pay off the balance due.
Additional funds would come from rental income for the Law Enforcement Center, though that area would only be open to certain entities. "For the long term goal of the property, (the county) wants to have just law enforcement in the LEC," Goodale explained.
The details of the proposal will be worked out over the next few weeks, with a firm plan to be in place by the first of the year. The Williams County Commissioners will hold their next meeting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 6, at the courthouse.
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