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| Jail sleepover fundraiser suggested |
| By The Daily Freeman |
| Published: 06/15/2006 |
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KINGSTON, NY - Ulster County Legislator Peter Kraft has proposed a kind of bed-and-breakfast behind bars, charging the public for a chance to stay overnight in the nearly completed Law Enforcement Center. Kraft said his plan would give the public an up-close look at the $86.16 million jail construction project and raise money to restore funding to county programs that have suffered budget cuts in recent months. "It's not an off-the-wall idea," Kraft said. "The sheriff had asked us to stay overnight." Ulster County Sheriff J. Richard Bockelmann had suggested a sleepover for legislators last year to check out the facilities before inmates were brought in. That proposal never took hold, and the project has yet to be fully completed. The Albert Street center, now more than two years behind its initial target opening date of April 2004, is proposed to house a 484-bed jail and sheriff's offices. "We're cutting money out of the budget for the library (and) we're cutting money out of other agencies," Kraft said. "If there's a way of potentially raising money, charging people to stay overnight, we can then restore money that we cut out of the budget." Legislator Frank Dart, who has been critical of the handling of the jail project by the Legislature's former Republican majority, did not warm to Kraft's idea. "I'll be damned if I'm paying to stay in there," he said. No date has been set for inmates to be transferred to the new facility from the old jail on Golden Hill Drive. In the meantime, county officials are negotiating with contractors over $20.04 million in claims that could push the project cost over $100 million. The project was originally estimated to cost $53 million. At a meeting of the Legislature's Law Enforcement Center Project Committee this week, officials said they were optimistic that the building would be ready for occupancy by September, but added that state inspections and training would probably delay inmate transfers to after Labor Day. |
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