Monday, December 29, 2008
Editorial: Localities must pay for regional jail
The state doesn't have enough money to split the costs of construction overruns.
From the RoundTable blog
Read the latest entries
Gov. Tim Kaine last week handed a lump of coal to several local governments. With the state budget in a hole, there's no money to help pay for cost overruns at the nearly completed Western Virginia Regional Jail. The localities now must absorb the $11.3 million debt.
A few years ago, overflowing jails finally spurred local officials to take action. Montgomery, Franklin and Roanoke counties and Salem banded together to build the new regional jail. It will have 605 beds.
They asked the state Board of Corrections to help pay for it. That was in 2005, when everyone figured the jail would cost $70.9 million. The state agreed to pay half, leaving the other half to the localities.
Nearly four years later, the project has experienced significant cost overruns. It will cost $22.6 million more, and the localities asked the state again to pay half.
The governor said no. It's hard to blame him. Virginia is dealing with a revenue shortfall to the tune of $3 billion. Richmond is cutting funding for core services all over the place. There simply isn't $11.3 million lying around.
Besides, overruns are not the fault of the commonwealth. Most of the extra costs resulted from bad timing. The localities bid out construction while prices were still swinging up. They could not have known that, but it is ultimately their problem.
Sure, officials can point to a few costs associated with environmental requirements, but those are a small portion and will probably save money over the long term anyway.
If Virginia were flush with cash, maybe Richmond could help, but it is not.
The jail money has already been spent, so localities must pay off the debt. Even if they could pull the money back, that wouldn't be an option. What would they do? Leave a mostly-built prison sitting vacant while they pay off the original debt?
Officials hope the region's members of the General Assembly will come to the rescue. They have a powerful ally in House of Delegates Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, who said, "We are going to have to work to see if we can find that money." We look forward to seeing what other state service he would shortchange for a local earmark.
These are hard times for everyone. Assuming the state would kick in half of any jail overrun was not a good idea.
