State pledges $15 million for expansion with 1 percent local match, though construction won’t start for a few years
State pledges $15 million for expansion with 1 percent local match, though construction won’t start for a few years
San Benito County will not immediately receive a cut of more than $600 million in funding for jail expansion and construction that was approved this month, though the state’s Corrections Standards Authority has recommended it receive $15 million at a later date.
The CSA earlier this month awarded $602 million in bond funding to 11 counties – ranging from $3 million for Madera to $100 million each to Los Angeles, Riverside and Orange counties. The bonds were first authorized by Assembly Bill 900 in 2007.
San Benito was initially awarded $20 million to expand its Flynn Road jail a few years ago, with the stipulation that the county provide a 25 percent match – $5 million – in order to receive the remainder.
“Right after we were awarded that money, the county started its downward economic slope and we could not take advantage of the award,” Sheriff Darren Thompson said. “We were basically leaving $15 million on the table because we didn’t have our $5 million match.”
Then last year, the CSA notified counties that were promised money that they needed to use it soon or lose it. Thompson said that after counties complained about the deadline, the agency reconsidered and offered counties the money with a lower matching funds requirement – 5 percent. San Benito and some other counties agreed to relinquish their initial grant money in order to receive it later with a lower matching requirement.
“We’re in essence getting about a $20 million jail project done at a county cost of somewhere around $1 million,” he said, noting that the 60-bed expansion project isn’t scheduled to begin for a couple of years and wouldn’t be completed for four to five years.
“Unfortunately, we needed this five years ago and it’s still five years out,” Thompson said. “This is the worst time in the world for the county to come up with a match, but we need this jail expansion and we’ve needed it for years.”
The county jail is rated to hold a maximum of 142 inmates, and it frequently is at or above that number.
“When we hit 130 we start experiencing more problems with inmates because we don’t have the ability to keep people separated that need to be separated,” Thompson said. “We try not to go over 142 because that means we have to petition the court to allow certain inmates that are a lower risk to be released from their confinement sentences.
“We’ve been maxed out for several years, so we frequently have to let people out early,” he continued. “The 60-bed expansion will allow us to address that and let people serve their complete sentences.”
The county does not have to come up with the 1 percent match before starting construction, Thompson said. Instead, it must provide the $1 million by completion of the project.
That match can include more than just money, he added. The salary for county employees that work at the jail can count toward the match as will the value of the land next to the jail on which the expansion will take place. The sheriff’s office has also set aside some money it has received from the state’s early prisoner release program to contribute as a match for the jail expansion funding, the sheriff said.
Steve Wittry, of San Benito County’s Public Works Department, said at the Tuesday Board of Supervisor’s meeting that the grant money can also be used for “soft costs,” such as environmental and engineering reports, Wittry said.
“In five years when the new jail opens and hopefully the economy has recovered some, we can reduce the practice of letting people go early,” Thompson said.
The funding for jail expansion follows the state’s realignment of responsibilities for handling lower-level offenders and adult parolees from state to local jurisdictions. To date, the state has awarded approximately $1.2 billion to 22 counties for jail construction.
Matthew Cate, the chairman of the CSA and secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said the jail funding “provides a major boost for California counties to house local inmates safely and effectively. These awards, coupled with the ongoing funding to counties, demonstrate California’s commitment to helping our counties successfully implement realignment.”
