Restoring the state's share of funding to complete the new Western Virginia Regional Jail will be a priority for some of the region's legislators when the General Assembly session begins Jan. 14.

House and Senate members will be looking to reverse -- or at least moderate -- Gov. Tim Kaine's decision not to fund the state's 50 percent share of the final $22.6 million in construction costs.

The expenditure -- which actually amounts to about $790,000 per year in bond payments rather than an $11.3 million lump sum -- was included in proposals Kaine released just before Christmas to address a $3 billion shortfall in state revenue.

A key player in the House of Delegates will be Del. Onzlee Ware, D-Roanoke, who sits on the public safety subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee.

"The $11 million is there," Ware said Friday. "The commonwealth is not broke, in that we have zero dollars, there's just not enough to satisfy all the needs of all of our projects.

"The question is whether this project is important enough for us to spend the money."

He and state Sen. Ralph Smith, R-Botetourt County, agreed it's important that the state not dump the full expense back on the localities involved, which borrowed money to build the jail in anticipation of 50 percent reimbursement by the state.

Although that percentage is not written into law, it has been the standard for a decade, Smith said.

Forcing repayment on the localities "could pose some risk to local governments' bonding ability, as well as to the commonwealth's."

Bond ratings are important any time, but especially in the current economic climate, he said.

The regional facility, in western Roanoke County, is scheduled to open in March. It will hold long-term prisoners from Roanoke, Montgomery and Franklin counties, and the city of Salem.

Existing jails serving those localities are grossly overcrowded.

In 2005, the state agreed to pay half of the $70 million anticipated price of the jail.

By last year, however, costs to meet state standards had driven the total up by an additional $22.6 million -- largely because of dramatically increased prices for materials, according to jail Superintendent Charlie Poff.

Kaine's action marked the first time since the state formula for funding regional jails was set in 1998 that a governor has refused to appropriate funds for a project approved by the corrections board.

Even in bad times, Ware said, "we still have to govern. ... We really need to sit down and try to figure out a way to share the cost of the overruns.

"That doesn't necessarily mean it has to be 50-50, but it is not fair or wise to dump that entire amount on the localities.

"They are suffering, too. They don't have money any more than the state does.

"It will take bipartisan support to make this particular project work" in both houses of the General Assembly.

Smith agreed that "we may need to compromise somewhere" on the funding ratio, "but I hope that is the worst-case scenario."

And for Ware, the question isn't just a matter of finishing up the building. If the localities decided they just couldn't finish the project, "that would put maybe 100 people out of work. I know deputies who left their employment to go to the regional jail, so there's a human aspect to this."

Poff said he and the regional jail board members have spoken with all of the region's legislators.

"They were supportive and understanding of what did occur, but certainly we did not receive any commitment from them.

"I believe they will work as hard as they can to get it through."

He reiterated that some increased costs were anticipated in the process to meet all of the requirements imposed by the state for the facility, although the total was higher than expected.

And he added that independent "value engineering" studies found nearly $2 million in savings as the project was under way.

Ware noted that "nobody is pointing a finger and saying somebody was negligent, or that somebody caused the overrun. ... Nobody anticipated, or could have anticipated," that the costs could have risen so much, so quickly, he said.

In September, the corrections board approved the regional jail's request for the additional $11.3 million in reimbursements, but its language also includes the disclaimer, "subject to the availability of funds."

Poff said that a state debt advisory committee report indicated that they have "sufficient debt capacity to honor this commitment."

In an earlier interview, however, Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey justified the cut by saying that even though the money isn't from the operating budget, the state is nearing its self-imposed debt limit, which is 5 percent of the operating budget.

Ware said he wants to avoid shifting "a bigger burden on already ailing localities," if at all possible.

"I don't have all the answers, but I want us to slow down, get calm and figure a way out.

"We'll try to negotiate to a reasonable ending."