County moves jail forward in another 3-2 vote

In another 3-2 vote the Pennington County Commission voted to move forward with the jail expansion project. The move came at the Nov. 6 regular meeting which was held after a special meeting to discuss the  jail project.

Commissioner Deb Hadcock raised concerns over the proposed jail addition project at the special meeting held prior to the regular meeting.

Hadcock said she was in support of the jail project but raised various issues including the location of the project and its cost.

“We’ll have 1,388 inmates in a population of  let’s say 150,000. And you wanna increase it. We’re a tourism industry and we’re gonna have 1,100  inmates in the middle of Rapid City,” Hadcock said. 

She called this a concern. She referred to the downtown innovation district wondering how business owners there feel about having an increased inmate population.

Another concern she had was diversion program effectiveness. 

“We’ve had tons of programs. Tons and tons of programs and the trend hasn’t gone down. It’s going up,” Hadcock said.

Hadcock was also concerned about the cost and referred to the $6 million the county was currently over in its budget.

“How much do we want to impact the citizens?” Hadcock asked. “I want the jail done…. How do we get it done without making that big an impact on the citizens?”

She said it was up to the citizens to decide if and how the county moves forward.

“Spending $7 million on a design project is enough probably to throw most people over the edge on it,” she said, referring to the money the county is paying for the project design.

“Most people are having issues already with their property taxes. They’ve told you over and over again,” Hadcock said. “How much are we willing to spend so they can survive these inflationary times?” 

The two options on the table for the expansion  now include C1, a $129,598,826  proposal that includes  adding 148 beds to the existing jail along with two additional shelled out floors for future housing expansion plus an energy plant floor, a vehicle sally port and a main jail remodel and security electronics upgrade, and C2, a complete jail which finishes the shelled-in floors of the C1 design for a total of  592 beds, at a cost of $168 million.

Pennington County Sheriff Brian Mueller said he is hopeful to get a technology grant to cover the costs of the security electronics upgrade to try to solve some of the “financial issues this project is going to create.” Mueller  is also exploring conversations with other entities like Fall River and Custer counties but admits he has not had those conversations yet.

He presented a slide showing potential return on investment of $5 million for Option C that included $1 million from Fall River County and $4 million from the housing of 100 federal inmates.

“If federal courts change gears it impacts the numbers of federal marshals in the region,” Mueller said. 

County buildings and grounds supervisor Davis Purcell, who presented alongside Mueller, called the project  a  “huge financial impact.”

The above costs do not reflect the operational costs, which Purcell estimates will be $313,440 for option B or C1 and $626,880 annually for C2.

Mueller expects between 21 and 35 staff for the expansion at a cost of $2.9 million to $10 million annually depending on which option moves forward.

Mueller says nothing is set in stone but estimates  46 percent of those costs will be covered by outside revenue like the continued housing of federal inmates. 

As for financial impacts to individual taxpayers both homeowners and ag land owners will be impacted.

Tom Grimmond of Colliers Securities said impact on a $300,000 property for option C1 will increase  a property tax bill $108/year. For option C2 it will mean an extra $152/year. The ag land impact would range from $.14/acre to $.20/acre.

Grimmond said there are two ways to finance the project,—either a finance lease purchase, which is how the commission has historically done this type of project, or a  general obligation bond which requires an election up front.

Commissioner Travis Lesseter voted along with Hadcock, both of whom asked their fellow commissioners to continue the discussion at a future meeting. 

“I get it, sheriff. The public wants public safety. They also want us to be very cautious of our tax dollars. That means this board moving forward in the future is really going to have to look at what the county is actually spending money on and probably even cutting overall budgets to make this work so that we’re not constantly relying on the backs of the taxpayers who have to make a decision between owning  property and paying an extra $100 or $188 a year in taxes along with whatever the school does, insurance does, meds, etc.,” said Lasseter.

Hadcock said she thought people needed more information before moving forward on the project. 

“There’s no hurry. In three months the design project’s not going up. The next six months the design project’s not going up,” she said. She did not see approving the design of the project as fiscally responsible nor fair to the public and   wanted more discussion.

However, a majority of the commissioners approved $5,481,816 to BKV group  to provide  a complete design project for the project.

Commissioner Gary Drewes then motioned to direct building and grounds to move forward with the C1 advancing Options C1 and C2 as the two preferred concepts for the  expanded jail project, emphasizing long-term infrastructure, public safety and  financial sustainability. It was seconded by Ron Rossknecht and approved by the two along with Lloyd LaCroix.

“It shows me  that you’re moving forward anyway,” said Hadcock, who said there has been a pattern of 3-2 voting for the last four years. 

The Pennington County Commission will meet again Nov. 19 at 9 a.m. at the  commission chambers in the county administration building in Rapid City.