Board reconsidering lease/purchase option

News editor

SANDPOINT — Bonner County officials are reaching out to the Panhandle Area Council to see if it can help resolve the county’s juvenile detention conundrum.

The county teamed up with the council a couple of years ago to acquire the former Sandpoint Federal Building through a lease-to-purchase agreement and a low-interest loan.

County commissioners are hoping a similar sort of arrangement could be struck with PAC to build a new detention center for juvenile offenders. Conceptually, the plan resembles one the county proposed in 2008, but with a crucial difference.

The prior lease/purchase plan involved privately developing a lockup on public land at the sheriff’s office. But a district judge ruled the arrangement would be improper because if the plan went sideways, the county could lose title to the ground on which the facility sits.

The current lease/purchase plan proposes building a facility on private ground. The county would lease-to-purchase the building and the land as a package deal, which would eliminate the potential encumbrance on public property.

Commissioner Lewis Rich has approached two landowners on the north side of the city and Justice Services Director Debbie Stallcup has approached a third. All three, they said, have expressed varying degrees of interest in selling land for the project.

The next overture will be to PAC, a Hayden-based nonprofit which fosters economic development in Idaho’s five northern counties. The council also assists local governments with public projects, as was the case with the former Federal Building.

The county is also looking to defray design costs through potential grant opportunities.

“It would ease the burden of financing,” Rich said on Tuesday.

Commissioner Cornel Rasor recommended leaning upon the county’s reserve funds so it won’t have to borrow as heavily.

“The less we borrow, the less we pay interest on,” he said.

Juvenile detention figures

• Average annual bed days — 3,745*

• Local annual cost — $472,375 ($126/day)

• Region 1 annual cost — $666,610** ($178/day)

n Savings via detention alternatives for low-risk offenders — $185,346***

* Number of juveniles multiplied by total number of days spent in detention

** Does not include transportation or staff costs

*** Work in Lieu of Detention savings: $143,388: Electronic monitoring savings: $41,958.

SOURCE: Bonner County  Justice Services, 2006-09