In a project that started back in 2019 that was tabled for a period due to the COVID-19 pandemic that came about a short time later, last night the Marion County Commission voted at their February meeting to approve a bid that will finally begin the expansion of the Marion County Jail.
Staff Photo / Vicki Messer
Of the five bids received by the county, the lowest bid for the expansion and other needed improvements came in at $5.4 million dollars by P & C Construction of Chattanooga.
County Mayor David Jackson says that he and Marion County Sheriff Ronnie “Bo” Burnett signed a letter about 18 months ago to get the expansion started due to overcrowding at the county jail, specifically in the pod where female inmates are housed. The expansion, when complete, will add an additional fifty-five beds for female inmates and will be built on to the side of the Justice Building near the 9-1-1 center.
When put up for vote to accept the bid, Commissioner Cantrell made a motion to approve, with Commissioner Campbell offering the second with only one commissioner abstaining.
Following the vote, the next agenda item covered bond issuance for the jail expansion project.
The Commission reviewed a resolution for issuance of 20-year, fixed rate, level-debt service of just over $400,000 per year to cover the $6 million bond for the jail expansion. The county’s bond representative said this would be done as bonds have been done in the past, such as the bonds used to cover costs of the recent Jasper Middle School construction–and stated that the bond would not require any additional tax revenues or tax rate increases to cover the annual debt service fund — it would be funded explicitly with funds that are already available.
The representative also stated that Marion County’s bond rating (similar to a credit report on one’s personal credit) is currently rated as a Double-A, which is a high-quality investment grade, only one step from the highest rating possible for an entity. The representative said only about 20 of Tennessee’s 95 counties fall into that category, citing the county’s conservative budget management practices, frequent budget monitoring benefiting from a very strong institutional framework, a stable outlook of the tax base growing, and other factors that helped the county achieve the Double-A rating.
After a brief discussion and questions from Commissioners Franklin and Schafer, the motion was approved unanimously. The next vote came for approving the terms of the bond issuance, which was also approved unanimously.
Following the votes, County Mayor David Jackson praised the commission and county elected officials for a good job done by all involved for the ability of a county of our size being able to borrow almost $40 million dollars in a short time while remaining fiscally conservative and maintaining a good bond rating all without having to raise taxes or burden local taxpayers with additional costs.
We’ll continue to follow the progress of this ongoing project as it develops here.
