JAIL BIDS COME IN HIGHER THEN EXPECTED

TRIMMING JAIL PROJECT

The process of determining the final cost of the Jefferson County Sheriff and Justice Center remains ongoing after bids for the project came in higher than expected.

Due to current cost increases for home and commercial construction materials, Krouse said the higher-than-expected bids were not a surprise, and they will now look at ways to cut costs before accepting bids for the project.

Council President Pam Crozier said Wednesday that because the bids received are not final numbers, the Commissioners are not yet releasing that information to the public.

In April, the Jefferson County Jail Building Corporation approved a resolution to authorize borrowing up to $42 million for the new jail.

Because the bids came in higher than anticipated “we’re probably going to have to borrow more than we originally anticipated but in the end it still comes under the maximum lease rental amount of $2.9 million per year.

The original projections included higher interest rates,  interest rates are extremely attractive right now and hoping everything holds out long enough for us to get the interest rates locked in.

Following up on a discussion in February, County Council President Pam Crozier proposed a resolution that was adopted unanimously for the county to buy its water for the jail through Madison instead of Dupont because Madison’s rate are lower than Dupont and the city already has service to the site.

Dupont Water was provided a cut-off date for negotiations they were  given such a deadline and it was March 18.

Dupont Water was given a cut-off date of March 18, they have missed their opportunity to negotiate with the county for the water service to the proposed jail site.

The Council then unanimously voted in favor of Crozier’s resolution that water for the jail be bought from the City of Madison.