After 33 months of staff work, the new jail for Mohave County was approved by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday.
It took 33 months to come up with a solution for this county to get a new jail. Quite a bit of time I'd say. The jail itself is not all that important to me, it is NOT a place that I'd like to be a resident in at any time.
However, what was important is how the county figured out a way to get this done. Prepare yourself.
The building is expected to cost the county around $74 million.
That's quite a bill.
Around $25.5 million will be paid up front with funds from the county's quarter-cent sales tax.
Well then... who is paying the rest of the bill?? Wait for it...
The remaining $48.5 million will be financed through a lease-to-own agreement with the builder/developer of the facility, FaulknerUSA.
What?? A public/private partnership??
Faulkner will sell Beneficial Investment Certificates to cover the upfront cost of the building. The certificates are sold to investors, who are essentially purchasing part of Faulkner's lease agreement with the county.
The county will pay back the certificates by using sales tax revenue.
Read the rest of the article as there is some contentions made by one of the County Supervisors worth looking at... but at the end of the day...
The upside to such an agreement would be that the county would not have to foot the upfront bill to build the jail and it would not have to staff the jail. This could save the county money, which could be used to build a new courthouse.
County Manager Ron Walker said he didn't know of any company that would give a jail away for free.
The Board then moved to approve the new jail.
This new jail belongs to the county and the citizens that reside. We are paying for it, but it took a public/private partnership to get to a favorable conclusion.
I've heard that something similar is being off handedly considered by a different interest in Kingman. I say off handedly because at this point there are no official and public considerations being made at this time. The proposed project wouldn't be for a place for people that break the law and need to serve time. The proposed project would likely bring jobs and other opportunities to Kingman.
I've even heard that the proposed project could bring other amenities such as shopping and entertainment choices that folks in Kingman just don't have at the moment (reduced to spending 3 bucks a gallon to satisfy those choices in other communities).
Heck, I've even said that the proposed project would bring improved public safety and convenience qualities to our so called quality of life issues.
Heck, some even think that such a proposed project could increase the value of our resident owned 168 acres of property in the area of this project. An increased value that could turn into even more opportunities for the great people here in Kingman.
It is a great concept... one that seems to have caught on everywhere else... including our neighbors in the county. One that should be considered right now at this very moment. Why?? If it took 33 months for a jail, it is going to take quite a bit time for new and badly needed infrastructure.
Now is the time.
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