Citing higher than expected financial commitments, Steele County has announced that it will no longer participate in plans to build a regional jail in Barnes County. Steele County is requesting a return of its share of all unspent funds contributed and an accounting of funds spent. The request was made in a letter from Steele County Commission Chairwoman Jane Amundson to jail conso board chairman Harlan Opdahl. The letter also notified the board to cease using or spending any monies remaining from Steele County’s contribution and requests a calculation of how it arrived at the sum to be returned to the county. The withdrawal of Steele County from the consortium leaves Valley City and Barnes, Griggs, Dickey, Sargent, LaMoure and Ransom Counties in the consortium. The Sheyenne Valley Correctional Center consortium has been in suspension while members explored options for outside funding or a cheaper facility.
(The county also wants the Sheyenne Valley Correctional Center consortium to return its share of unspent funds and an audit of how the money was spent. Officials of Steele, Barnes, Dickey, Griggs, LaMoure, Ransom and Sargent counties and Valley City had been planning the facility on the northwest edge of Valley City. But the jail project was put on hold recently after four years of planning.
Steele County had contributed $75,000 toward the project.)
After four years of planning and negotiation representatives of six counties and Valley City met Wednesday and decided to put the project to build a jail in Barnes County on hold for now. Steele County withdrew from the consortium last week and announced its intention to request a refund of the unspent portion of its contribution. Its share of the cost of building and operating the proposed jail would have to be assumed by Barnes County and Valley City or distributed among the remaining partners. LaMoure County did not send a representative to the meeting, but announced beforehand it could not participate under the most recent financial scenario. Sargent County Commissioner Jerry Waswick said the county was still willing to participate, but could not continue to do so if any more counties withdrew. Valley City representative Jon Wagar said there is still a need for a jail and the state government was coming to see the need for regional jails to house state prisoners nearing release close to their home communities, and might reconsider giving financial aid for local jail projects.
Steele County quits jail consortium
Thursday, 03 April 2008
By Steve Browne Valley City Times-Record
Steele County is pulling out of the multi-county jail consortium and will request a refund of unspent funds, a Steele County commissioner confirmed Wednesday. Steele County Commissioner Keith Jacobson said he is drafting a letter announcing the decision to the consortium partners. Jacobson said that of $875,000 committed by the consortium, $264,000, or 32 percent, had been spent. Steele County intends to request that 68 percent of the its contributed share of $78,000, totaling $51,000, be returned. Valley City representative and consortium media contact Jon Wagar issued this statement, “We are obviously disappointed in Steele County's decision to withdraw from the Sheyenne Valley Correctional Center consortium. The challenge for this board from the beginning has been to do something together that none of us could do on our own. Without Steele County, that challenge becomes more difficult.”
Seven counties slated to help fund a new multi-county jail in Barnes County wouldn’t have the cash to maintain the facility as was first envisioned back in 2004. That’s the conclusion Valley City Commissioner Jon Wagar and Valley City-Barnes County Development Corporation Director Jennifer Feist have drawn and said at a meeting held concerning the Sheyenne Valley Multi-county Correctional Center last Friday with representatives from all seven counties. The original plan for the jail was to encompass Barnes, Dickey, Griggs, LaMoure, Ransom, Sargent, and Steele counties. “It isn’t where we want it to be at this point,” Wagar said, pointing out that if a new jail isn’t built and the Barnes County jail closes, the seven counties would “be at the mercy of higher rates” from housing inmates at other county facilities. When the project was first discussed in 2004 as an 80-bed facility, costing around $5 million, North Dakota had different needs and a different jail population than it does today. A facility today would cost around $8 million, Wagar said, and the likelihood of housing state prisoners is lower today than it was in 2004. “In 2004, the Department of Corrections at the state level clearly articulated the plan and said we’re going to do it,” Wagar said. “Since then, it’s become somewhat clear that the state is focusing on a large centralized ultra-efficient facility, either the one they got remodeled or a new facility near Bismarck.” A recently built correctional facility in Rugby that served as a model for the Sheyenne Valley Multi-County Correctional Facility has also influenced possible funding for a new correctional facility in Barnes County. Plagued by financial problems and a lack of inmates, the Rugby correctional facility is struggling financially. Wagar said the United States Department of Agriculture recently withdrew its financial commitment as the Sheyenne Valley facility’s primary lender because of the failures of the Rugby facility. The facility in Barnes County was originally planned to house 80 prisoners, but if it costs $8 million as estimated, it would have a financial shortfall of nearly $1.3 million from revenues coming in from all seven counties, according to Feist. Even a facility that houses 37 prisoners costing $5 million would have a financial shortfall of nearly $700,000, Feist said, based on paying personnel and maintaining the facility.Both Feist and Wagar contend the current Barnes County Jail remains more of a financial liability to Barnes County than an asset. Feist also said the economic data presented at the meeting needs to be further studied. Wagar says the seven counties have three options: one is to not build a new facility at all; the second option would be to find another facility that would be willing to house inmates from the seven counties either individually or collectively; and the third option would be to scale the project back to less than what was envisioned in 2004. Wagar recently visited a small county facility in Anaconda, Mont., that he says could possibly work as a model for what could be built in Barnes County. Plans for another meeting to receive further feedback from the seven counties is tentatively set for January 2008.
DEFICIT COULD RAISE TAXES
AUTHOR: Stephen J. Lee, Grand Forks Herald Staff Writer
Date: 7-25-2007
The Grand Forks County Commission approved a plan Tuesday that would impose a levy of as much as 10 mills to pay the debt service on the new jail building.
The plan, presented by the commission's bonding counsel, is the latest move required because of mistakes made a year ago in budgeting for the new jail, which is nearly full of inmates. Gary Malm, commission chairman, emphasized that the five-member board hasn't decided yet to levy that much but only to accept a plan that would allow such a levy. Not until all the budgets for the 2008 fiscal year are in and analyzed will the commission know how much it will need to pay down on the $1.3 million in debt service on the new $16 million jail building, Malm said.
A mill levied across the county this year raised $161,000, so 10 mills would raise $1.6 million, according to figures provided by Debbie Nelson, county auditor.
Next year, a one-mill levy will raise more than $161,000 through the expected increase in property values, she said.
Commissioners blame former jail administrator Gary Gardner for misinforming them about the financial potential of the new jail's operation, especially revenue that would come with federal prisoners. Gardner told the commission that he had been assured by a federal official the jail would receive an increase up to $110 per federal inmate, and the budget for the jail reflected that expected revenue.
It turned out Gardner's figures were off, and the federal rate for keeping inmates in the Grand Forks Correctional Center actually has remained at $70 a day. Gardner was fired by the commission, which said he had provided them with inaccurate information and poor budgeting, especially on the number of employees needed to run the jail. Interviews will begin next month for candidates to replace Gardner.
About a dozen people have applied for the jail administrator position, including the interim administrator, Capt. Linda Wagner. Commission members hope to have a permanent administrator on the job by Oct. 1.
Wagner told the commission the jail had 196 inmates as of 7 a.m. Tuesday, including 35 federal inmates bringing in the $70-per-day federal rate. Another 10 inmates are from the overcrowded North Dakota penitentiary in Bismarck, at a rate of $60 a day. Wagner said.
The federal inmates include 16 from the marshal's service, seven from the U.S. Border Patrol, six from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and three from the Air Force.
The city has seven inmates in the county jail, Wagner said.
Having 196 inmates is a near record, commissioners said after the meeting.
The new jail's capacity is 220. The more inmates, the more revenue to help cut the jail's operations budget deficit, commissioners said.
The jail still is slated to lose up to $1 million in it's first year, but the commission hopes to have a more realistic budget for next year.
Originally, the commission hoped to service the debt on the $16 million jail by the projected $100,000 surplus the jail would run. That didn't work out.
How much in added tax levies will need to be raised to pay the debt service on the new jail won't be known for a month or more.
The Multnomah County Wapato Facility, a 525-bed jail that features vaulted ceilings, open-air corridors, spacious dormitories and private showers, took two years and $59 million to construct. ROB FINCH / THE OREGONIAN
Lt. Jay Heidenrich is commander of the Wapato Facility. But in the nearly two years since its completion — as Portland has struggled with a crime surge — not a single inmate has set foot in the building
PORTLAND — It may be one of the prettiest jails ever built.
A long driveway circles past a modern-art sculpture on the front lawn. The main building looks like a manor, with pink stucco and glass tile on the outside. The interior motif leans heavily toward pastels. Vaulted ceilings and open-air corridors suggest the design principles of feng shui.
The Wapato Facility, in the city's northern outskirts, took $59 million and two years to construct. But in the nearly two years since its completion — as Portland has struggled with a crime surge — not a single inmate has set foot in the building.
Multnomah County, in charge of Portland jails, can't afford to open it.
"We held a ceremony, cut the ribbon — then locked the doors," said Sheriff Bernie Giusto, who attended the dedication in summer 2004. "We have a brand-new jail sitting here empty, and I don't have a good answer when the public asks me, 'Why was it built if there was no plan to operate it?'
"Even I get tired of telling people how dumb we are."
Today, the shuttered jail is a symbol of Oregon's continuing financial troubles in the midst of an improving economy. As the state and its counties prepare for another round of budget cuts this year, Wapato has come to represent different shades of failure to different people.
Activists cite it as an example of government incompetence. "Remember Wapato!" has become a rallying cry for citizens groups braced for new tax increases.
The sheriff gritted his teeth.
"I love coming to an empty $59 million jail."
Giusto talks of getting his staff to create a virtual tour of the jail so Oregonians can see it for themselves on the Internet. The tour would include an answer to the vexing question of how Wapato came to be.
In sum: The jail was conceived during good times and finished during bad.
At the height of the boom years in the mid-1990s, Oregon taxpayers approved a levy to build the jail with the idea that rising property taxes — the chief source of revenue for local governments in Oregon — would generate money to operate it.
In 2000, a recession caused the economy to plummet. Unemployment surged to 8.5 percent, the highest in the nation. Two tax initiatives imposed sharp limits on property taxes. Schools cut class times, social agencies dropped programs, and police cut back on personnel — in particular, corrections officers.
No one publicly opposes opening Wapato, but politicians facing a choice between paying for classrooms or jail cells have, in recent years, favored schools.
(Click on Headline to read entire article)
Grand Forks County Correctional Center
Rather than operating on a break-even basis or at a profit, the new jail is running monthly deficits. Over the first quarter of 2007, the facility lost $162,750, or an average of $54,250 per month. (June 2007 Click here for story)
Taxpayer alert
Monday, 04 June 2007
To the editor, I would like to share some information with the taxpayers of Barnes County in regard to the proposed Sheyenne Valley Corrections Center (SVCC) that is to be built in Barnes County. As you probably know, there is one city, Valley City, and seven counties, LaMoure, Sargent, Steele, Ransom, Griggs, Dickey and Barnes, that have entered into an agreement to build and operate a jail located in Barnes County. According to the Valley City Times-Record, dated Dec. 15, 2005, each entity of the partnership was to contribute a down payment of $62,500 to get the project started. This would guarantee bed space at the minimum cost per day — currently projected at $65 a day — over the next two years. The facility then could not come back and demand more money from the entities. It is meant to “stand on its own.” They were also told by SVCC promoter Jon Wagar that the USDA would guarantee a 30-year loan to complete the project. Some time later, Jon Wagar informed the SVCC entities that the USDA wanted more assurances. The promoters of this project convinced the entities to offer the USDA a five-year guarantee of monetary responsibility. This offer apparently was not acceptable. The promoters then offered the USDA a 15-year guarantee of monetary responsibility. This again apparently was not satisfactory because, according to an article in the May 3, 2007 issue of the Valley City Times-Record, the SVCC representatives met in Valley City with the CEO of an alleged non-profit Montana-based company called Community, Counseling and Correctional Services, Inc. (CCCS). He offered to help SVCC with a plan to keep the project going, including financing. In the article, Valley City commissioner and SVCC chief project promoter/spokesman Jon Wagar stated that CCCS company CEO Mike Thatcher would do this on “ … his dime and his time … ”. I find it difficult to believe that an out-of-state company would offer free services. The USDA is probably reluctant to provide loan guarantees for another jail in view of the fact that the newly opened jails at Rugby and Grand Forks are in serious financial trouble. With this revelation one might ask, why would an out-of-state company show any interest? Grand Forks county commissioner Connie Triplet stated in a Jan. 3, 2007 Grand Forks Herald article that, “The new Grand Forks County jail will run nearly $1 million in the red this year and taxes will have to be raised next year to pay for it.” Ultimately, the burden of paying for the losses of any failing jail will fall on the local taxpayers. If the taxpayers of Barnes County want to avoid the situation that Rugby and Grand Forks taxpayers find themselves in, it would behoove them to have a serious discussion with their county commissioners. Allen Dolliver Valley City
Mike Ferguson/VCTR Sen. Larry Robinson, upper left, speaks briefly to those attending Wednesday’s Sheyenne Valley Correctional Center meeting in Valley City. Community, Counseling and Correctional Services, Inc. CEO Mike Thatcher, far right, traveled from Montana to address the group, sharing his ideas for moving forward with the new jail project.
By Mike Ferguson Times-Record Editor treditor@daktel.com Sheyenne Valley Correctional Center board members as well as numerous concerned citizens got a big shot of hope on Wednesday afternoon. With a need for a new jail rising every day, and with the funding stalled because of increased loan guarantee demands from the United States Department of Agriculture, a non-profit company based in Montana called Community, Counseling and Correctional Services, Inc. has offered its assistance. CCCS provides both secure and non-secure correctional and other treatment facilities for adult and juvenile offenders. They have built facilities in Washington, Montana and North Dakota.
“I know the people that have worked so hard to get this facility built here in Valley City are tired and almost battle fatigued,” CCCS Chief Executive Officer Mike Thatcher told those gathered at the Regional Technical Center. “But this project is very far from doomed. You just need to modify a few things with the existing project plan and move forward with other funding options. You can get something together here very quickly and still break ground very soon.” So SVCC board members and representatives from the seven counties and one city (Valley City) involved in the SVCC project decided to let CCCS make good on its offer to help. They gave verbal permission two hours into Wednesday’s meeting to Thatcher so that he could: contact the original SVCC architect; take a look at the original business plan; contact the coordinator for the project; and begin discussion with the North Dakota Department of Corrections about what Thatcher thinks is the key to successfully moving forward with the project. “If you do not offer anything more than just a jail, you will not have many customers,” Thatcher said. “What I mean by that is you have to have a facility where you have levels of programs and not just a place to lock up prisoners. “You need to come up with a plan and build a jail that deals with not only securing prisoners but dealing with addictions and treatments. You have to look at what you are going to need long term, not just what you need right now because all you have is a 100-year old jail,” Thatcher added. “You come up with levels of programming, and I think you are much more likely to deal with the department of corrections.” Barnes County jail administrator Jason Lang supports Thatcher’s beliefs. “If you have 80 beds and you have to market to get 40 of those beds filled, you market what you have to do,” Lang said. “It makes sense for us to have those levels of programs in place when we do that marketing.” SVCC board member and Valley City Commissioner told those gathered that the USDA is now asking for a 15-year loan guarantee from the seven counties and Valley City in order for them to fund the majority of the project. “The counties have said no, so here we are ready to break ground and the financing has essentially been pulled right out from under us,” Wager said. “So we gave permission to Mike and his company to do they can do to get this rolling again, and on his dime and his time. We want him to contact the department of corrections and see what he can do to as far as advising us what we need to get this done.” CCCS can also assist in the financing of the jail, either through advise on other funding options or on a lease-purchase type of agreement. “Most people don’t understand that 90 percent of the costs are the operating costs of the jail, not construction related costs,” Thatcher said.
RUGBY, N.D. (AP) — A regional jail and drug treatment center that opened about six months ago needs more prisoners to make ends meet, its administrator says.
The North Central Corrections and Rehabilitation Center in Rugby has stopped repaying about $6.5 million in loans to a federal rural development fund and three banks.
The $7.6 million center opened in September. It has room for 80 jail inmates and 40 beds for drug treatment. Its current inmate population totals 69.
``The original plan had us to capacity within three months and that's not very realistic,'' administrator Elaine Little said. ``We know that now.''The center got fewer inmates than expected from the state and area counties.
``We would need another 30 to 35 inmates to cash flow,'' Little said. ``And that's really the difference between what the area counties had estimated and what the actual numbers are.''
Officials at the federal Agriculture Department's rural development agency in Bismarck are working with the center on a new loan repayment schedule.
Little believes the prisoner numbers will grow.
``Given a few more months here,'' she said, ``I think we'll be fine.''
The center employs about 35 people in the Rugby area with a monthly payroll of more than $100,000.
Jail Facts-Do you Remember?
It will cost about $5-6 million to build--(T-R) 4-25-06
Now: A nearly $7 million multicounty jail scheduled to be built in Barnes County, N.D --Fargo Forum "Barnes jail price tag rises" 1-29-07
*It is not anticipated there will be problems filling the proposed correctional center, and the group already has an agreement with the federal marshal's service to house 10 inmates. --T-R 4-25-06
Now: Jon Wagar said the jail hopes to obtain contracts with the state and federal government to house inmates at the multicounty facility, but while officials have had verbal assurances,"nobody’s willing to put anything in writing" yet. --Fargo Forum 1-29-07
(Remember State Corrections Director Leann Bertsch will not guarantee any numbers. "Any county proposals shouldn't be looking at dollars from the state - they need to build to meet local needs. --T-R 4-25-06)
*"This facility was designed on a business model, not a government model," Jon Wagar explained in a recent interview. "It is a for-profit business. The rental revenue generated will have to make the payments - it will not rely on tax dollars."--T-R 4-25-06
Now: According to Wednesday Jan 24th 2007 T-R The USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) wants a guarantee that the Sheyenne Valley Correctional Facility can sustain a cash flow, which according to the article it could cost Barnes County and Valley City approximately $90,000.00 a year to subsidize the new jail.
*"In the event of a financial failure, the jail would go back to the USDA and so it would become the obligation of the tax payers of the United States as opposed to just the tax payers of Barnes County or Valley City or the member county," JonWagar 6-19-06 T-R
Now: The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants guarantees the Sheyenne Valley Correctional Facility can sustain a positive cash flow if state and federal bed rentals for prisoners do not meet the projected estimates. 1-24-07 T-R
*Wagar sees one big advantage to this stand-alone facility. "Once the down payment is made, the counties involved and the city of Valley City are done," he explained. "Except for paying a daily rate to house their prisoners, they have no additional liability or obligation to the facility. It has to make its own way financially. This takes taxpayers off the hook, and makes the facility and its management responsible for making the operation financially successful." Wagar said of his ad hoc committee. "We did the homework..."-T-R 12-15-05
*But the obligation to the city and the county, and each of the other entities who have bought into the partnership, has already been met with the down payment of $62,500 per entity over the next two years. This guarantees bed space at the minimum cost per day - currently projected at $65 a day. Non-members will be paying considerably more. The facility cannot come back and demandmore money from the entities - including Barnes County and Valley City. It is meant to "stand on its own" and service its own debt through occupancy, rate structure and good management. Any profits, which could be seen in year one, will go back towards debt reduction and to build capital reserves. Other possibilities, such as reduced rates or dividends, would be decided by the board of directors."The counties all kicked in for the down payment and they’re done - their obligation is complete," Wagar said. "We own a percentage of the facility, but that’s where the responsibility ends." --T-R-2-6-06
Now: "But if the jail doesn’t fill its 84 total beds, the entities could pay up to $93 a day per prisoner." Jon Wagar-1-29-07 Fargo Forum
Scenario One: Leave facility as is, cutting staff. Fill beds locally, leaving approximately 44 beds empty, raising cost per day to $93. Scenario Two: Cost per bed per day at $65, subsidizing correctional facility from each of the seven-member counties general fund for five years. As beds are filled cost per day would be lowered. Valley City/Barnes County cost per year would be approximately $45,000 each. Scenario Three: Cost per bed per day at $75, subsidizing correctional facility from each of the seven member counties general fund for five years. As beds are filled, cost per day would be lowered. Valley City/Barnes County cost per year would be approximately $28,500 each.-TR 1-24-07
Full speed ahead, Wagar said he does not believe recent discussions about prisoner rates will hold up groundbreaking, which is scheduled this spring. 1-29-07 Fargo Forum
Taxpayers take a look at what is happening up in Grand Forks, $1,000,000.00 in the red and who does the Commissioners say are going to pay for shortfall......the local taxpayers! GRAND FORKS COUNTY: New jail runs $1 million in the red (GF Herald 1-3-7 )"The new Grand Forks County jail will run nearly $1 million in the red this year and taxes will have to be raised next year to pay for it, said County Commissioner Connie Triplett on Tuesday."
Finally, let’s remember Jon Wagar’s statement "Financially it works. The business study shows it could generate a profit the first year. It could be a cash cow ... and wouldn't that be a nice break for our taxpayers?"--Jon Wagar T-R August 9, 2005