Money best spent by building new facility

In the letters and articles I have been reading about the Aug. 4 vote on a juvenile facility in Bonner County, one theme is clear, i.e., no one wants higher taxes and money spent frivolously. I agree, but most of the writers have missed a fact about money for the juvenile facility.

Bonner County is already spending money and it isn’t being spent in Bonner County. Because we do not have the number of beds in our facility for the people who are sentenced, we send the overflow to Kootenai County and, here is the good part, for Kootenai County, at the tune of paying 20 percent of Kootenai’s costs.

They send us a bill folks, we don’t get to send people there for free. And that 20 percent does not even account for the cost to the parents and guardians who have to travel to Coeur d’Alene for court appearances, counseling sessions, etc.

I have nothing against Kootenai’s facility or the people who administer it. They do an excellent job. I would, however, rather see that money spent in Bonner County giving jobs to the people here who need them and pay Bonner residents for the excellent service they can provide.

I am voting yes for the new juvenile facility in Bonner County and if I had a backyard big enough, I would not mind having it built there.

JP CARVER

Sandpoint