The Blaine County Commission unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday officially authorizing a bond election that, if approved, will help pay for a new public safety facility in Hailey.
The election will be held Feb. 6, 2007, and require the approval of two-thirds of the county's voters. If passed, county citizens can expect an increase in taxes of about $2 per 100,000 of property value.
But, if the county was blindsided by a fiscal nightmare, such as a capital murder charge resulting in a lengthy trial, similar to the Sarah Johnson murder trial in 2004, there could be more of a burden placed on taxpayers, albeit slight. In the worst case scenario, taxes would not climb higher than $7 annually per $100,000 of property value, according to Commissioner Tom Bowman, who has taken the lead on the bond election for the county.
The new jail would replace the current 34-year-old facility and would also house the Blaine County sheriff's offices and a new consolidated dispatch center. It would be located on land owned by the county at the Airport West light-industrial park in Hailey.
According to Sheriff Walt Femling, the current facility is in a heightened state of disrepair with leaking ceilings, poor lighting and ventilation, and narrow hallways that pose a safety risk to guards and inmates alike.
Also on Tuesday, the commission passed a resolution to hire Michael Moore, of the Boise law firm Moore Smith Buxton & Turcke, as counsel to help present the bond to the citizens of Blaine County. Moore is regarded as an expert in municipal bond practice. He also advised the city of Ketchum with its bond to secure new snow removal equipment in the Nov. 7 election.
County voters rejected bond issues to fund a new jail three times in the 1990s, most recently in 1996.
