Charlotte Observer----
New Jail vs. money for New Schools
(Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Commissioners OK new jail, but they've capped money they can borrow for construction.)
Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Commissioners agreed Tuesday to move ahead with plans for a new 1,700-bed jail, but they set up a tense debate for coming months: How to pay for that project without cutting back on money for school construction?
County leaders hope to open part of the jail on Spector Drive as soon as 2014.
The detention center is expected to cost an estimated $220 million to $240 million.
But meeting that goal probably will require commissioners to devote a major portion of construction spending in the short term on the jail, taking away from money that might otherwise pay for new schools, parks or libraries.
Commissioners agreed earlier this spring to cap the amount they borrow for construction in the coming years as part of efforts to get a better handle on debt.
Under the plan, the county would borrow no more than $150 million in 2010-11, and $253 million in each of the following three years.
When county staff first pitched the idea, one scenario showed spending a little over a third of the money each year on the jail, which was originally priced at $355 million.
However, County General Manager Michelle Lancaster told commissioners Tuesday they now anticipate needing $80 million for the jail in 2010-11 – just over half of the available bond money for that year. An additional $100 million would be needed the next year.
Commissioners will debate later this fall on how to divide up the limited pool of bond money, and some predicted the talk will be difficult.
“There are going to be some tough choices, I think for us to make and for the school board to have to make,” said Commissioner Bill James”
In recent years, the largest share of money borrowed for construction has gone for projects for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
Commissioner Dumont Clarke said the cost of building the jail “is going to make it much more difficult, really almost impossible, for us to build schools at the same rate that we were hoping to do and other needed government facilities.”
The county has been planning for a new jail for years as a way to help address current overcrowding and a predicted growth in the jail population.
Mecklenburg currently has three detention centers: Jail Central in uptown, and Jail North and the newly-opened Jail Annex in northern Charlotte, with more than 2,800 beds currently. The actual capacity, however, is smaller because officials separate men from women and older inmates from teens.
Crowding has been an issue at the jails for years, and at times hundreds of inmates have had to sleep on the floor.
A 2008 consultant's report estimated the county would need about 4,500 new jail beds by 2030 based on projected growth. But it said that number could be reduced by about 23 percent with reforms to the local criminal justice system.
The county has made some changes recently, including allowing some offenders to be monitored with electronic bracelets instead of going to jail. Soon, leaders will study whether to revamp the pre-trial release program.
However, the consultants report and county leaders said that even with those reforms, the county will still need to build a jail. Sheriff Chipp Bailey said “it's critical that we stay proactive.”
Commissioners agreed 6-2 to go ahead with the project. Dan Murrey said he wanted more time to study the project, including whether programs targeted to help people with mental illness could reduce the number of jail beds needed. Vilma Leake lamented spending money on a jail instead of other programs.
2 County Officials Lose Votes On Charlotte-Mecklenburg DSS Probe Audit Review
(Commissioners feared officials' involvement might undermine public confidence in DSS investigation.)
Reacting to complaints about possible conflicts of interest, Mecklenburg County commissioners voted Tuesday to remove County Manager Harry Jones and one of his top lieutenants as voting members of a committee that looks into alleged misspending.
The move means Jones and County General Manager John McGillicuddy can serve only as ex-officio members of the county board's Audit Review Committee.
Their roles have come under scrutiny since the committee began evaluating county management's response to recently revealed accounting failures at the Department of Social Services.
Some commissioners said the arrangement could undermine public confidence in an ongoing investigation because Jones and McGillicuddy would, in effect, judge their own performance.
On Tuesday, the county board agreed to add commissioners Dumont Clarke and Karen Bentley to the committee. Two members of county management will provide information to the panel.
“There was an obvious conflict of interest on some issues,” Commissioner Dan Murrey said.
In their final act as voting committee members, Jones and McGillicuddy voted last month to remove themselves from the panel.
County officials established the Audit Review Committee in 1999 to oversee financial audits and make recommendations to the commissioners. They took action following the indictment of former county elections director Bill Culp, who pleaded guilty to taking $134,000 in bribes and kickbacks.
The original committee included two commissioners, two county administrators and a community member.
The committee has helped lead a county investigation into why officials cannot account for tens of thousands of dollars that were supposed to help needy children. The issues include a $10,000 check that was made out to a county employee.
Complaints about the makeup of the committee surfaced in July after it issued a report that endorses reforms county managers implemented to correct problems found by auditors.
Counties such as Guilford, Wake, Durham and Forsyth have audit review committees and none allows staff to sit on the panel.
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Sources: Charlotte Observer, Charmeck.org, CMS, WCNC, Google Maps
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