COLLINSVILLE – Henry County plans to borrow funding in late fall to begin the construction of the new jail.

Demolition work started earlier this month at the planned site of the new 400-bed facility, which will be located at the former DuPont plant.

Following a Tuesday presentation from David Rose of Davenport and Company, which serves as Henry County’s financial advisor on the jail project, the Henry County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to begin the process of applying to the Virginia Resources Authority to borrow roughly $53 million this fall, rather than waiting until the spring of 2019 to borrow the funds.

That $53 million constitutes the majority of the funding necessary to construct the jail, although the county will also need to borrow about $6 million in the spring. The county will need to borrow an additional $17 million to complete the roughly $75 million project, although that $17 million will be reimbursed by the state.

Earlier estimates put the cost of the project at $68 million, but there are concerns about the fluctuating prices for items such as steel. In fact, that’s why Rose advised supervisors to borrow the lion’s share of the funding in the fall, rather than waiting until the spring.

According to Henry County Administrator Tim Hall, if the county were to wait until the spring to secure the entire amount of funding, there is a chance that interest rates could increase to the point that constructing the jail would become significantly more expensive.

Hall pointed out that the stock market is volatile, and because of a recently implemented 25 percent tariff on imported steel, the price of American steel could significantly rise by the spring, which would make the jail project even more expensive. The smartest move, Hall said, would be to acquire as much of the funding as soon as possible.

According to a letter from the Virginia Department of Corrections, the Virginia General Assembly approved a 25 percent reimbursement for the total cost of the jail on June 7. The amount appropriated is not to exceed $18,759,878.

Collinsville District Supervisor Joe Bryant expressed concern that the state could renege on its promise of reimbursing the county for $17 million of the jail’s construction cost.

However, Rose said that between 25 and 30 jails in Virginia have been financed in this way, and all of them have received the state’s promised 25 percent reimbursement.

Rose added that Henry County is in a good position financially, which he credited to the board’s sound management of county money.

He added that Henry County has a AA bond rating from the “Big Three” credit rating agencies: Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch Group. The only higher rating, he said, is AAA.

“You all are continuing to move in the right direction towards that AAA rating, which will be a far cry from where you were a decade or 15 years ago,” Rose said.

Why build a new facility?

One argument that has been made is that the county should use empty buildings in this area, rather than spending money to house inmates elsewhere.

But it’s not that simple. A county can’t just rent a building and install bunks for prisoners. In order to meet the standards of the Virginia Department of Corrections, you would have to basically create a new jail, even as a temporary measure.

It’s a situation that even a new jail would at least temporarily solve. If the current forecast holds true, in 2021 when the new jail would be open, the county is projected to be at 307 inmates needing beds. If the 307 inmate forecast is correct, then the county would no longer need to pay for inmates to be housed elsewhere.

At the current rates, the new jail would be large enough to house all of the county’s inmates until at least 2031, a 10-year period. After that, however, if the crime rates remain the same, Henry County could be forced to start sending inmates out again.

The new jail will have 400 beds. The Virginia General Assembly has offered the rebate Bryant referred to, taken from a fund that provides some assistance for cities and counties that need new jails.

In November, Henry County supervisors approved the donation and purchase of approximately 30 acres of land owned by E.I. DuPont de Nemours.

The land was the former home of the DuPont manufacturing facility in Henry County. DuPont donated 10 acres of the land, and the county purchased approximately 20 additional acres at the cost of $500,000.

The county had previously purchased an option on the land at a cost of $50,000 and also spent additional funds during the process of conducting its due diligence to examine the site’s suitability for a jail.

Once the option and additional expenses are subtracted from the $500,000 cost of the 20 acres, the remaining balance the county will owe is $406,000.

The cost of housing inmates

The Henry County Board of Supervisors also voted on two other jail-related items at its Tuesday meeting.

Per a request from Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry, the board approved a transfer of funds and an additional appropriation totaling $550,000 to cover the expenses of housing inmates at other facilities due to overcrowding at the Henry County Jail.

Of that amount, $206,000 came from the county’s general fund balance, while $344,000 came from other sources within the current year budget, including $75,000 from the Sheriff’s office’s contingency reserve for housing inmates and $75,000 from the contingency reserve for fuel.

Hall told the board that the $75,000 from the contingency reserve for fuel had been set aside in case fuel prices spiked during the current fiscal year. As that did not happen, the funds were available to be used to help cover the cost of housing inmates.

Henry County supervisors learned Tuesday night that by the time this fiscal year ends on Saturday, officials estimate the county will have spent about $950,000 to house inmates outside of the current jail.

The actual budget for housing inmates elsewhere for this fiscal year was $500,000, which the county exceeded back in April. That was an increase from the 2016-17 numbers, as supervisors set aside only 150,000 to cover rehousing costs.

In that vein, the board also approved monthly contracts to several jails where Henry County inmates are housed, including Western Virginia Regional Jail, Roanoke City Jail and Patrick County Jail.

Built in 1974, the Henry County jail was intended to house 67 inmates and can house up to 175 safely. According to Perry, as of June 13, the county was responsible for a total of 269 inmates.

There are 174 housed in the Henry County Jail, with 64 in Western Virginia Regional Jail, 11 in the Martinsville City Jail Farm, six in the Martinsville City Jail, six in the Roanoke City Jail, four in the South Hampton Regional Jail, four in Southern Virginia State Mental Hospital, three on electronic monitoring at their respective homes and one in the Patrick County Jail.

Once the number goes over the safe mark at Henry County, inmates are taken first to either the Martinsville City Prison Farm or the Southampton Prison Farm. Both of those facilities provide the service for free, housing inmates without charging Henry County anything.

That’s not the case with every city and county, however. Other facilities charge between $30 to $35 per day, Perry said.

When Martinsville or Southampton can’t take prisoners, the two primary places used to house inmates is the Roanoke City Sheriff’s Office and the Western Virginia Regional Jail.

Part of the challenge is not just finding a facility with space, but finding one that can house the inmate for the full period of the sentence.

A city or county may have an open bunk today, but will need to fill it with an inmate of their own next week, after a court sentence is handed down.

That means Henry County has to find another spot for the inmate it’s legally responsible for.