County tackles jail construction uncertainties

Calaveras County’s long-planned jail and Sheriff’s Department quarters will be the topic of a Board of Supervisor’s study session Tuesday.

Groundbreaking for the estimated $43.9 million project is slated as early as October, but it faces a number of uncertainties going forward, according to a staff report.
 

 A key question is how swiftly the state will reimburse the county for money it fronts to pay for construction, which likely will be about $1.3 million a month.

Documentation from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation indicates the turnaround is typically three weeks. But some are concerned it will take longer.

This could both cost the county in interest payments and create a cash-flow problem.

Assuming a 90-day turnaround, the county could be on the hook for as much as $8 million over six months before getting its first check from the state, according to the report.

Additionally, the state plan is to withhold 20 percent of the reimbursements until the project is completed. Thus the county would need to front about $5.2 million over the life of the project.

Another worry is California’s financial stability. If the state is unable to sell bonds to finance the project, then the county would be at risk for defaulting on its own financing.

There is a precedent for such problems: Last fiscal year, the state halted the sale of all bonds, stopping capital projects across California.

Sheriff Dennis Downum said some of these issues may be clarified in a Feb. 25 meeting between state officials and recipients of funds from AB 900, the $1.2 billion jail bill that is contributing $26.2 million toward Calaveras County’s project.

Besides timelines, Downum would like to hear the method by which state officials plan to reimburse counties.

Originally, the plan was to reimburse local governments 80 percent of costs by paying from the state’s infrastructure fund, then sell bonds to reimburse the fund and cover the remaining 20 percent.

A new idea being floated is to sell bonds immediately to create dedicated sources of funds for each project. Downum much prefers that option.

“I would know that the money is there for my project,” he said.

Downum has also been told the county will receive its AB 900 contract the evening of Feb. 9 — the day of the board meeting. The contract may also answer some of the reimbursement questions, he said.

“Quite frankly, we’re having the study session with the board a few weeks early,” he said.   

At least one obstacle has already been cleared. The county was initially worried about a rule stating all facilities constructed with AB 900 dollars had to be “fully operational” within 90 days.  

Due to the level of staffing that would require, that stipulation briefly looked like a deal-breaker for Calaveras County.

According to Downum, recently returned from a conference where the topic was discussed, the state has now said the sheriff and county can determine what is “safely staffed” and only requires that the facility be operational, not fully in use.

“It doesn’t have to be the entire facility,” he said.