Options narrowing for county

SANDPOINT — Bonner County’s options for constructing a new juvenile detention center narrowed Tuesday as voters overwhelmingly rejected a two-year override levy for $6.6 million.

The ballot measure was defeated 2,056 to 650, according to an unofficial final count. With a total of 2,706 ballots cast, nearly 76 percent of those voting opposed the levy. Only about 24 percent of participating voters supported the measure.

“I had a feeling, quite frankly, that is where it was headed, mainly just because of the economy,” county Commission Chairman Joe Young said on Wednesday. “That was the most criticism I heard: ‘We can’t afford new taxes.’”

Young said the board plans to huddle with Bonner County Justice Services officials to review the county’s options, which range from making do with the existing facility to investigating the possibility of a local option tax.

“I’m not sure, really, whether it would work,” Young said of the latter option, the half-cent tax the state allows for jail facility construction. Young said it’s unclear if such a tax could be imposed under the circumstances.

Last year, commissioners sought judicial confirmation of a lease/purchase agreement with a corrections center developer, which could have cleared the way for facility construction without a vote.

But District Judge Charles Hosack ruled the agreements were an unconstitutional obligation on taxpayers. The county then geared up for Tuesday’s levy election.

The county could still seek judicial confirmation that a juvenile lockup is an ordinary and necessary expense, which would also bypass a vote on the proposal.

While the options are being weighed, Young said the county will do what it can to keep the existing facility operational. The Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections inspected the facility last spring and its officials indicated they would be willing to certify the lockup in 2010.

“We’ll continue to fund the facility as it is and do all the repairs that we have to. We’ll just have to see what our other options are,” Young said.

If the state declines to certify the facility, a 40-year-old house, youthful offenders would have to be held at the state’s Region 1 facility in Kootenai County. County officials said moving the county’s juvenile population there could cost up to $1 million annually.

Young said that figure does not include costs the county is forced to pay each time the Region 1 unit is expanded or remodeled.

“We’re just trying to be proactive and have a solution to the problem that somebody’s going to have to deal with soon,” he said. “I just hope it’s not a crisis.”