With ballooning cost and need for jail space, how can Lancaster County pay for it?
County officials heard updated plans last week for a new detention center. It’s a much larger and more expensive plan than others in the years-long effort to grow jail and court space.
In May 2020, a concept was presented to the county capital project sales committee for a 400-bed detention center. It included one larger and two smaller courtrooms, and magistrate court office space. Work with architects and the South Carolina Department of Corrections since, led to a bigger facility plan. The vision now is more than 500 beds with five courtrooms.
The original plan had an anticipated cost of $47.2 million. Of that cost, $30 million went into the third county capital projects sales tax referendum. The rest would be covered by a future capital project sales tax vote, or by the county through debt service millage. Since, an excess from a prior sales tax vote put $12 million more toward the detention center, or $42 million to date.
Last Wednesday, Lancaster County Council heard a study that by 2050, needs will warrant a 173,000-square-foot facility with more than 450 beds. A phased approach could put common areas for that full amount in place, but add bed space as need grows. A scaled-down current plan would start with a two-story facility at 120,000 square feet and 321 beds.
A complete project with a 120,000-square-foot jail (about twice what was envisioned two years ago) and 33,000 square feet of magistrate court space would cost an estimated $112 million. Removing a magistrate building and relocating those services within the plan could drop the estimated cost to $89 million.
Crowded jail space
Sheriff Barry Faile has a facility now with 121 beds. The daily average inmate count this year is 168. The high mark is 204 inmates. Reviews of the detention center in recent years comes back to the same written up point, Faile said.
“It was always for overcrowding,” Faile said.
Other issues like understaffing and not enough attorney client meeting space would be addressed with the new plan. Faile’s office could add a few positions annually as need grows with the new facility.
“It would double the manpower to run this facility at full capacity,” Faile said.
The average length of stay for inmates is 28 days. That number is up from recent years, in part due to the type of inmates there. Alan Richardson with Justice Planners told Council on Wednesday the ratio of inmates facing more serious charges is up in recent years.
“Right now over 50% of the bookings are either violent charges, for theft or for drugs,” Richardson said.
When COVID-19 came, jailed inmates for more minor offenses weren’t kept there as they were prior to the pandemic. Courts didn’t operate on typical schedules.
“We got people out that didn’t need to be there,” Richardson said. “Unfortunately those that are left over, do need to be there.”
The daily inmate and bed counts seem like simple math, but law enforcement experts say they aren’t. Inmates have to be separated by gender, class of offense, threat level to themselves or others and various other standards. A hypothetical jail with 100 inmates and 100 beds would almost certainly have some beds unused and some inmates without one, Richardson said, due to inmate classifications.
“Your beds and your bodies never are going to marry up and match up perfectly,” Richardson said.
In May the county closed on 64 acres along Hwy. 9 that can be combined with the existing sheriff’s office. Construction could begin about this time next year, and last two years. Which brings the county to the same question it faces with so many projects.
“When folks start asking us,” said Councilwoman Charlene McGriff, “we’ve got to be able to explain how we’re going to pay it.”
Capital project financing
Large county capital projects on the horizon include the detention center, up to $40 million for a regional sports park and perhaps $9 million for county facilities like a fleet center and land purchases. County administrator Dennis Marstall said he gets questions on how the county can tackle all those projects.
“We can do these three or four big projects simultaneously,” Marstall said. “The short answer is, they all have different funding streams.”
The county has capability of general obligation bonds, referendum debt (like recent $19 million recreation and $16.5 million capital sales tax bonds) and special source revenue bonds. There are limits to how much debt the county can carry, but also options to work around that capacity. Like when the county created a nonprofit corporation and issued bonds through it, then paid back the corporation for work on the county courthouse. A similar method to what the county could use for the detention center.
“You’re able to preserve your debt capacity,” said Veronica Thompson, county CFO.
The county has a debt capacity of $38 million, but some of it is occupied now through existing debt.
“The legal limit that’s available to us is estimated at $23.9 million,” Thompson said.
As of the end of June, the county had about $33.7 million in outstanding general obligation debt on eight bond series dating back to 2015. Another just came off that list with the second series of capital project sales tax debt. The outstanding general obligation bond debt ranges from money for fire trucks and neighborhood millage to animal shelter and recreation projects. About $1.6 million of the debt will mature this year or next. Other bonds stretch as far out as 2039.
Overall long-term liabilities, of which general obligation bonds are a piece, through the end of June, were about $42 million. Next year the county will enter the municipal bond market for the detention center and regional sports park.
Growth in Lancaster County and increased sales from it brought in about $10 million more that originally budgeted from the second round of a capital project sales tax program. It’s similar for capital project funding in Lancaster County to what Pennies for Progress is for roads in York County. In May the county started collecting on a third round. The program was for $68 million, but first quarter data showed about $4 million in expected revenue.
“If nothing changes,” ballparked Council Chairman Steve Harper, “just say you had zero growth, we’re going to take in $15 million a year times seven years. It’ll be more than that.”
Which could lead to more in collections than the sales tax referendum included. That money could go toward finishing projects on the list, or putting more toward them than was initially approved.
“We’re possibly looking at $40 million or more just left over,” Harper said. “A possibility. It’ll be a good possibility.”
Current plans would fund the detention center through installment purchase revenue bonds similar to ones the county used for its courthouse, but funded by capital project sales tax. Installment purchase revenue bonds paid by hospitality tax and county impact fees would fund the regional sports complex. General obligation bonds, which could toward the county debt limit, would fund the fleet center, land purchases and other needs.
