Their goal was to request approval of a lease agreement, land purchase, and tax commitment for the new jail.
“The first thing was to get the property zoned and it got zoned, and the commissioners are going ahead with the purchase of that,” said Mike Morris, chairman of Vigo County Annual Budget Committee.
An additional appropriation of around $510,000 was approved to purchase the land at 500 West Honey Drive for the new jail.
A lease agreement with the Vigo County Building Corporation was also approved.
Under the agreement, the corporation would own the jail until debts are paid off, which is expected to happen around 2039.
“Everything seems to be working smoothly, it’s going just as it should. I mean, the council has to do their thing and the city council did theirs and now it’s going to move right along the timeline,” said Judy Anderson, Vigo County commissioner.
Also discussed were taxes, since October of 2018, Vigo County residents have paid two special local income taxes for the jail.
One tax is at rate of .25 which is expected to end after 20 years and the other at a rate of .20 which can be stretched for 30 years.
Monday afternoon, commissioners say they these taxes have already collected over $2,000,000.
“We have $2.6 million in there already that has been collected,” Anderson said.
According to Anderson, both of these taxes will bring in around $5.2 million per year to build the jail.
Anderson says both the land purchase and lease agreement must approved next by the full county council.
Important dates for the jail:
TBA – County Commissioners will have a public hearing regarding jail design and plans
Week of 9/11 – Lease agreement executed
Week of 10/3 – Receive construction bids
Week of 10/21 – Sale of bonds
Week of 11/11 – Closing of bonds.
