City officials have come back with three ways to pay for construction of new jail cells Sheriff Richard Roundtree says are desperately needed. All require voter approval.
In 2021, the Richmond County sheriff put the cost to add 192 beds at $25.3 million, but the expense was not included in Sales Tax 8. Today, the price tag has risen to $37.5 million per wing of new cells.
Roundtree has said the jail is about 10% over capacity, with 1,179 people occupying space made for 1,094. Records show 1,228 were booked there Monday. The sheriff has said the jail is in such disrepair, inmates routinely break off pieces of metal to fashion shanks.
The simplest funding option presented to the commission by Deputy Finance Director Tim Schroer is to seek voter approval for a general obligation bond for the needed amount.
There are three dates available next year for a referendum, he said. If voters approve, a separate millage assessment would appear on property tax bills until the debt is paid.
The second option favored by some commissioners is to have a local government agency issue blight bonds for the project.
The Urban Redevelopment Agency, created for the Laney Walker-Bethlehem redevelopment project, has borrowed more than $86 million since 2010 for projects that include $28.5 million for the renovation of Augusta Municipal Building, $12 million for the cyber center parking deck and $26.1 million for the Beacon Station development.
If the URA issued the bonds next year to repay using SPLOST 9 – the package must be approved by voters – when it starts in 2027, the city could make interest-only payments until sales tax collections began. The payments would comprise $3 million for one $37.5 million unit of cells or $6 million for two, he said.
That plan would require the city enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the URA, hold public hearings and the URA issuing the bonds, Schroer said.
A final option is to include the jail expansion on Special Purpose, Local Option Sales Tax 9, Schroer said. A SPLOST election could be held on any available election date prior to 2027, but traditionally the city takes most of a year to develop a sales tax package, he said.
The commission starts Tuesday with a 9 a.m. workshop to finalize details of the 2024 budget. At committee meetings set to begin at 1 p.m., they will discuss the jail funding options and other city business, including:
- Mayor Pro Tem Brandon Garrett wants an update on Augusta Animal Services “refusing to serve citizens” who live in the Hephzibah city limits
- Consider a request from the Greater Augusta Arts Council to create a grant-funded “mural festival” on the walls of the Fifth Street abutment between Reynolds Street and the Freedom Bridge
- A license transfer for Ye’s Massage from the former Kroger shopping center on Wrightsboro Road to a 1911 storefront on Walton Way, which proprietor Zhi Ye has owned since 2017
- Increasing the Augusta Regional Airport fuel budget for October through December to $1 million. Year-to-date revenues are up 41% to $19 million over 2019 and Masters Tournament and Department of Defense fuel demand is up
- Amending the inmate medical contract with VitalCore Health Strategies LLC for an earlier Dec. 1 start date after provider Wellpath terminated its agreement effective Nov. 30. The three-year VitalCore contract costs $6.67 million for the first year at Webster and $419,470 for Richmond County Correctional Institution.
- A list of Augusta project price tags submitted for congressional appropriations:
- Forest Hills (Rae’s Creek) basin storm and sanitary sewer, $3.65 million
- Rocky Creek (Wilkinson Gardens) drainage basin improvements, $5.47 million
- Country Place sewer trunk line, $4.5 million
- Doug Barnard Parkway area potable water interconnect, $4.5 million
