By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost
CHINA GROVE ó County Manager Gary Page favors building a jail annex on Airport Road that would cost about $8 million.
The facility on county-owned land would house 120 to 160 inmates, depending on which version commissioners pick.
Sheriff George Wilhelm also favors the facility, which would have four 40-bed dormitories with an elevated central control room where guards would have a continuous view of all sections and inmates.
Page laid out his recommendation with a proposal to put a one-quarter cent sales tax on the November ballot to pay for the jail and other projects.
Page told commissioners the board and the sheriff have to be on the same page to convince voters to approve the tax which could net the county between $2 million and $2.5 million.
Without the sales tax, Page said the county would have to raise property taxes to build the jail.
Last year, the state threatened to close the county jail because of overcrowding. The county is currently completing a 48-bed pod in the Detention Center on North Main Street, and paying $50 a day to house 40 or more prisoners in Sampson County.
And Sampson County is filling up its jail and already pushing to get the Rowan inmates out.
The current detention center built in 1995 has 162 beds and reached capacity in 1997.
The jail is authorized to house 215 prisoners by the state.
Completion of the 48-bed pod will boost capacity but will not meet the existing need.
Wilhelm said the jail routinely houses 290 inmates now, not including those jailed in Sampson County.
“If it weren’t for pretrial release, we’d have 500 in jail,” Wilhelm told commissioners. The county program pays the bond for lesser non-felon offenders.
The 160-bed version would give the county a total of 370 beds.
Under the plan, additional one-story sections could be added as needed on the county property, which would also have room for additional facilities including a sheriff’s office.
Wilhelm has repeatedly said he would like to move the Sheriff’s Office out of downtown Salisbury.
Page chose the permanent facility over two other possibilities.
– Option 1 ó expand at current jail site, minimum of $35 million, loss of parking on Liberty Street, possibly requiring a parking deck, and possibly running afoul of city code regulations;
– Option 2 ó build a temporary 96-bed metal building to serve as an emergency facility for five to seven years, estimated cost $4.1 million.
In a memo to commissioners, Page noted the sheriff views the temporary option as a waste of money.
Page called it a low-end solution that wouldn’t solve the problem.
Page told commissioners that with the downturn in the economy, he could not recommend the county going into debt $35 million for a downtown jail and making parking worse. “I don’t see it as feasible,” he said.
Discussing the financing, Page said he can’t find a way to cut the budget enough to pay the estimated $1.2 million payments needed to borrow $8 million for 10 years. It would require cutting 30 jobs.
Other than the sales tax, the only other option is raising taxes.
Page said commissioners would have to endorse and support the sales tax if they expect voters to approve it.
Costs of additional detention officers would be covered by the $400,000 to $600,000 now being paid to Sampson County.
Commissioners also briefly discussed the possibility of helping pay for a new facility by renting out unused beds to other counties or federal agencies.
Page laid out a timetable to develop plans for the jail annex, asking commissioners to approve seeing proposals from architects in March.