The Barren County Fiscal Court has again stalled on moving forward with plans to build a new jail, just as the current facility continues to age and literally fall apart. During the court's meeting last Monday night, Magistrate Carl Dickerson challenged officials with the Kentucky Department of Corrections on their pledge to shut down the current jail if construction on a new one is not allowed to move forward.

Calling out the state may be politically popular but it’s an economically dangerous move.

Both Judge-Executive Davie Greer and Acting Jailer Matt Mutter have said that the facility is being allowed to “slide by” on its state inspections while the state generously awaits the court's commitment to a new jail. This level of stalling on the issue, which has continued for years, is unacceptable.

Failure to complete this project—building or upgrading the jail — will nearly certainly lead directly to higher costs and headaches for the citizens of Barren County if the jail is soon closed.

Taxpayers will then have to fund transportation for the Barren County inmates to and from other county jails after arrests and for their court hearings. They will pay for the housing fees (and other payments through expenses like medical treatment) of these inmates to be kept in other county jails. And until the sheriff's office is prepared and properly trained, deputies will be tasked to work well beyond their means to shuttle inmates around the state. Not to mention the number of jobs lost at the jail.

The issue revolves around funding for the new facility, which is an understandable concern given the present state of the economy. But the back-side issue continues to be does Barren County want to be in the business of operating a large jail, a local jail or no jail at all. Running a large county jail is akin to being at the head of a multi-million dollar business. And funding jail operations and facilities is always a miserable choice for elected officials and taxpayers. “We don’t need them in a Holiday Inn” rings through most communities facing this decision. But there appear to be reasonable options available, including support from the federal stimulus. The federal government has allotted millions of dollars to Kentucky through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act specifically aimed for the purpose of building such governmental facilities. The money is out there, but does the county have the political pull and energy it takes to go after it?

Dickerson says he believes the current jail could sustain itself if it only held Barren County inmates. The jail currently lodges state inmates and receives a payment from the state for each day that each of them are held. However, the county receives very little to no income for housing its own county inmates, because the inmates and their families are not required to make payment on their bills, yet the county must fund and provide adequate medical care, food, water and lodging to the inmates while they are incarcerated. Those expenses add up, and with only county inmates, all expenses would be on the backs of the county with no additional neighboring county or state revenue streams, and all this without addressing the issue of the aging and failing jail. Putting more money into the existing jail has been viewed as a money pit for years.

An alternative funding option, putting a referendum in front of the voters in May to raise tax revenue to offset the jail cost, was advanced by Magistrate Tommy Matthews. Generally viewed as one of the most capable and effective members of the court, this move surprised us. Tommy is too astute to believe that voters are going to tax themselves, even for roads. And when this fails on the ballot, we’ve wasted time moving forward on a solution to the jail.

Magistrates who disagree or are disgusted by the jail issue can continue to drag their feet and hesitate while the jail staff patches leaks, cuts off faulty electrical wires and just “slides by” while the state ratchets up pressure and the employees and inmates work and live in sub-standard environments.

Leadership is often the most difficult when faced with only two choices: one bad choice and the other a worse choice. The fiscal court voted more than a year ago to build the new jail—we believed then and do now that was the correct decision and despite the uncertain economy, this is an expense that must go into the ledger book. County taxpayers cannot afford to wait for the magistrates to stop fighting amongst themselves.