The Marshall County Commissioners and Council members met in a work session Thursday morning to discuss funding operations at the Marshall County Jail and a more robust road program.
The focus centered around House Bill 1311 which involves Marshall County income tax distribution. The bill “provides that money accumulated from the Marshall County additional tax rate for criminal justice facilities, after the tax imposed is terminated, shall be transferred to the county jail fund to be established by the county treasurer (rather than to the county highway fund under current law).” If it passes, it would become effective July 1, 2021.
The Special LIT Fund was established to provide funding for the construction of the Marshall County Correctional Facility and some of the proceeds in excess of repayment of the bonds have been applied to the operations at the jail.
The Special LIT fund helps employ 11 people at the Marshall County Correctional Facility, the bond to pay for the construction of the jail at $1.13 million a year, inmate meals, wages-overtime, wages part-time, office supplies, prisoner supplies, janitorial supplies, maintenance and equipment contracts, and medical care for the inmates which is required by state statute. In 2020, it also paid for studies for the possible expansion of the jail at a cost of $1.2 million. This year, $136,000 was approved in additional appropriations to help pay some of wages and supplies for the jail.
There have been discussions about possibly paying off the jail bond early which would free up more money to pay for daily operations at the jail, but the .0025 tax would then sunset. Sheriff Matt Hassel said it would be important to extend that tax to not only keep up with the daily operations at the jail, but fund needed improvements and maintenance there.
Sheriff Hassel commented that he agrees that more funding should go to roads, but if the surplus goes to the highway department as the current law reads, the county’s fiscal body will still need to come with funds to keep up with the operations at the jail.
“The LIT fund does have a surplus,” Hassel stated. “We’d like to see that surplus help out with roads. I’ve got nothing against roads. You’re right. We need to do something with our roads, but if you do away with this LIT fund and send the surplus to the roads, I would like to know where you’re going to get the two million dollar operating costs to keep the jail open. Before you do that, you need to find two million dollars every year that is going to fund the operation of this jail.”
Marshall County Council President Tim Harman said the money is there to have $2 million for the road program. He passed out an extensive look into the Marshall County budgets over the course of 10 years and stated that the General Fund will have a “healthy cash balance throughout 2021.” He further noted in his report that the county would have a cushion of $4 million to $5 million at the low point in May of this year (before tax distributions) if $2 million is spent out of the General Fund for road funding. He also offered the options of reducing the cash balance in the highway funds by $500,000 and the General Fund by only $1.5 million, or reducing the cash balance in the Rainy Day Fund along with the highway funds.
However, when it comes to House Bill 1311, Harman does not support it.
Harman stated, “Honestly, I would like to ask Jack Jordan to table his bill altogether because I think there is a lot of discussion and a lot of debate on what can happen with this legislation with the jail fund and the road money. To me, to get this into law and tie our hands, I don’t support that.”
Commissioner Michael Burroughs stated that the commissioners and council unanimously approved the resolution to put this bill into session in this year’s legislation to make sure the jail funding is there and he stands by that motion, but Harman countered he would have liked to have seen that resolution brought up in January with the new council members in place before it came up for a vote and for it to go before the public for more information. Councilman Jesse Bohannon concurred, stating he plans to propose motions during Monday morning’s Marshall County Council meeting.
“The first motion would be to ask Representative Jordan to table it and come back next year with a comprehensive solution. The second motion would be to request an amendment to the bill that would extend the tax rate for us or give us an opportunity to extend the tax rate and shift the balance from the jail fund to the Rainy Day Fund. The second thing I’m going to request on Monday would be a request to the Highway Department to provide us with a proposal to spend up to an additional $2 million on roads.”
The entire discussion can be heard during the Maximum Impact program Sunday at Noon on MAX 98.3 FM.
