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| Board Approves Borrowing $19 Million |
| By The Journal Times |
| Published: 11/21/2005 |
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The Wisconsin County Board approved borrowing money to build a $19 million, three-story jail expansion. The bond issue will cost the county an estimated $29.1 million over the course of the loan, with annual payments of about $1.5 million. Jail opponents saw the bond issue as the last chance to stop the expansion project, but their last-ditch arguments against expansion and in favor of more alternative programs did not convince enough supervisors to vote against the borrowing. The bond issue passed 16-6, with supervisors Diane Lange, Ken Lumpkin, Dan Sharkozy, Gaynell Dyess, Ken Vetrovec, and Q.A. Shakoor II voting against. Shakoor asked board members to consider reducing the jail borrowing by about $5 million, with the expectation that the jail project would be scaled back to a two-story project. His attempt failed to gather enough support. The same supervisors who voted against the borrowing voted in favor of his motion. Shakoor also asked supervisors to consider a different borrowing scenario that would reduce the amount of interest paid and shorten the payback period. Those options were not recommended by financial advisers and county finance staff because they would have greatly taxed the county's ability to borrow for future projects, though they would have a lower total cost. Supervisor Peter Hansen, who chairs the Finance Committee, said the annual payment amount was the greatest concern for supervisors on that committee. The more the county pays for the jail borrowing each year, the less it can spend on other projects, should they arise. Supervisor David Hazen had a similar view. “Would we rather take the money from the county now or spread it over time?” he said. “It's going to hurt either way, but over time it won't hurt as much.” Ken Hall, a member of the SAFER Racine Coalition, a group of organizations that oppose the jail, has been an outspoken throughout the process. He has called for the county to rethink the jail plan to bring it in line with what other communities have done to reduce jail populations, including moving Huber inmates out of the jail and into home-monitoring programs. “I call on you to reconsider this bonding and do a real study on how to move forward using best practices,” he said. Opponents on the County Board had similar things to say. “It's like introducing a cancer to our system,” said Sharkozy, who voted against the bonding. “I don't know what we're going to lose in the future to support a jail program that's failed over and over and over. When does it stop? When do we start doing things differently? We're racing into something that is going to damn this county for years to come.” Several people spoke during the public comment period at the start of the meeting, asking supervisors to vote down the jail borrowing. |
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