Construction of a new modern law enforcement center in Warren County is scheduled to begin next April.
The new jail and sheriff’s office, located off Route 34 in Monmouth, will replace the county’s 100-year-old downtown jail.
At a special meeting this week, the Warren County Board of Commissioners approved an ordinance authorizing the issuance of up to $23 million in bonds to fund construction.
Chip Algren, a former Warren County state’s attorney and chairman of a citizen advisory committee formed to consider options for the new jail, said after a public hearing next month, the county plans to move forward with the project in the spring. The company said it is likely to issue approximately $18 million in bonds.
The project is supported by a three-quarters percent sales tax increase approved by Warren County voters in April 2023. This tax increase took effect on January 1 of this year.
Algren said the tax increase would generate more than $1 million in revenue by April 2025. Combined with funds earmarked by the County Commission, the additional sales tax revenue will help advance construction.
“We have $2 million coming in from COVID-19 funds, which will allow the county to raise about another $1 million from the general fund and effectively raise a down payment of about $4 million by the spring.” “We’ll be able to do that,” Algren said.
The committee, which includes Algren, Sheriff Martin Edwards, Chief of Staff Jeremy Raymond and County Commission Chairman Mike Pearson, will now work to finalize the Ringland-Johnson construction and design. The project will then be submitted to tender.
“The design and bidding process will take about four months, and then we’ll get the bids back and finalize and hopefully start construction around the first half of April,” Algren said.
Construction is expected to take 15 to 18 months.
The consumption tax hike will pay off the national debt.
The county commission also voted to make the new jail a 60-bed facility based on the recommendation of a resident advisory committee.
Due to current prison conditions, Warren County houses female inmates from other counties. In the new 60-bed facility, the inability to separate men and women is no longer an issue.
Algren said Warren County already houses inmates from Henderson County and is expected to continue housing them.
Warren County could generate revenue by housing inmates from other counties or even federal inmates at the new jail, but Algren said that’s not why the county is investing in the facility. he said.
“When we worked on this project, we didn’t work on the project relying on housing inmates from other counties. If we could do that, we’d get revenue from it. But we didn’t work on it relying on housing inmates from other counties. We wanted to make sure that we could handle this project without having to rely on the revenue of the company,” Algren said.
Instead, he said, the county is investing in a new jail because the current one is outdated, unsafe and structurally deficient.
“Our county jail is well over 100 years old and has outgrown its purpose,” Algren said. “If we don’t do something, we’re going to be shut down by the Department of Corrections one day.”
The county already owns the land on Industrial Park Drive where the new jail and sheriff’s office will be built.
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