County seeking court approval of lockup plans

SANDPOINT — Bonner County commissioners are making another pass at judicial confirmation of a $1.6 million loan to lock in the last bit of a financing for a new juvenile detention center.

The board also agreed on Tuesday to pursue backstop alternatives which could eliminate the need for judicial confirmation.

None of the alternatives will result in higher taxes for property owners, although Commissioner Lewis Rich warned that a tax hike is inevitable if the county is forced to transfer all of its juvenile offenders to a regional lockup in Kootenai County.

“Absolutely — I will sign it in blood — we will have a tax increase,” Rich said of the prospect of closing Bonner County’s substandard facility and shuttling juveniles back and forth from the Region 1 facility in Dalton Gardens.

County officials estimate it would cost more than $815,000 a year based on Bonner County’s 417 average annual bookings. Two-thirds of that cost would be strictly for room and board, with the rest going toward staffing and fuel costs associated with shuttling juveniles back and forth for court proceedings and doctor appointments.

The latest attempt at judicial confirmation is distinct from a 2008 attempt, when commissioners sought court approval of a lease/purchase financing proposal to fund a more ambitious plan to develop a new juvenile lockup and an adult work-release center at the sheriff’s office.

A district judge, however, ruled that the plan could have encumbered county property if the arrangement fell apart and created long-term indebtedness prohibited by the Idaho Constitution.

This time around, the county will argue the financing is needed for an ordinary and necessary expense. Idaho counties are required to secure housing for juvenile offenders and a new facility is necessary because the Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections will no longer certify the county’s existing facility — a converted residence — because of a multitude of structural deficiencies.

“We’re at a crisis point,” Bonner County Justice Services Director Debbie Stallcup said.

Stallcup said a Region 1 shift could also force the layoffs of juvenile detention employees, long-serving and dedicated workers who are cited as the chief reason why the substandard facility has been allowed to remain operational.

Commissioners are still holding out hope that judicial confirmation won’t be required if they can further deplete funding reserves to discomforting levels or scrape together enough carryover from the 2009-’10 budget.

Commission Chairman Joe Young prefers those options above judicial confirmation, which he worries could result in a judge ordering a tax increase to pay for the $4.6 million facility.

“I don’t want a judge to tell us to do that. I don’t even want to go there,” he said.