County jail sticker shock

Lawmakers have little choice

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — David Sager was just one lawmaker expressing distress and sticker shock at the cost of the new county jail. The New York State Commission of Correction (COC) is mandating construction of the jail, and the county has no choice but to move forward with the project, which is now projected to cost about $74 million.

That was a hard number for most lawmakers to easily accept when a presentation was made at the government center on March 19. The good news, though, was that the cost had been brought down from a larger project that would have cost more than $100 million.

Mark Kukuvka of LaBella Associates of Rochester, the project architect, said the newest set of plans call for an initial 250 beds, with an additional 50 beds as an option if the county so desired. In the future, the facility could be expanded by 50-bed pods for a total of 500 beds at maximum capacity.

The original plans called for the facility to include space for the sheriff’s office, and the county’s probation department, but those plans were scrapped in an effort to contain costs.

Still the cost of the building was considered high by several lawmakers. One reason for the high cost is that all the separate elements that will serve the facility, such as the laundry, the kitchen and the medical treatment area, must be built large enough to serve the maximum capacity of inmates that might eventually be housed in the jail.

Another reason is that the site, which is located just north of exit 104 of Route 17, across from Monticello Raceway, has no sewer, electricity or roads and those improvements are expensive.

Lawmakers asked if there was any way to bring the cost down further.

Sheriff Michael Schiff said that the county should not attempt to build a new jail with less than 250 beds. Even if the COC would allow it, which is unlikely, it would not be a wise move. Schiff said the county has been farming out prisoners to other counties since 2005 because of overcrowding at the old jail by the courthouse in Monticello and that facility has 200 beds.

If the jail population keeps climbing, as expected, the brand new jail might not be able to hold all of the county’s prisoners, and taxpayers would pay the mortgage on the new jail, while at the same time paying to farm out excess inmates. He said the public would not accept such a situation.

County treasurer Ira Cohen, who is a member of the jail task force, said he was concerned about the price, but the county can’t realistically build the jail with fewer than the 250 beds.

While lawmakers urged Kukuvka, who will be meeting again soon with COC officials, to find other ways to reduce the budget, county chairman Jonathan Rouis warned his colleagues against creating “false expectations” about the cost of the jail.

The county will bid out the project in November and ground breaking is expected to take place in January 2010 and be completed two years after that.