New VA Regional Jail Gets Boost
Appomattox County has agreed to participate in a Blue Ridge Regional jail in Amherst, along with Amherst, as well as inmates from the Blue Ridge Regional Jail in Campbell County. The agreement also includes the Cities of Lynchburg and Bedford, Bedford County and Halifax County. Story from the Altavista Journal.
The Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority (BRRJA) requested advance funding because it was notified that the Commonwealth of Virginia agreed to fund 50 percent of the eligible construction costs for the new jail. Since the state is likely ending this plan, Ferguson said, Appomattox County was fortunate to meet the 50-percent reimbursement program. The state will only provide the 50-percent share after the construction is completed, which is why the Authority requested to borrow a share in long-term bonds from localities and short-term notes from the state. The BRRJA is pursuing the issuance of up to $63 million in short-term Grant Anticipation Notes and long-term revenue bonds to fund the jail construction, as well as improvements to the Halifax County facility.
The Appomattox County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to approve a resolution authorizing the BRRJA to proceed. In January 2007, the Board voted to proceed with the regional jail effort. The supervisors’ vote was based largely on an overcrowding issue currently facing the Appomattox jail. According to a study, Appomattox’s jail was built to house 12 inmates. In 2007, the jail typically housed in the mid-to-upper 30s, and that total is estimated to increase to 69 inmates in the next 15 years. According to the data, Appomattox could expand the current jail to 69 beds with a construction cost of $11.1 million – or $787,000 annually for debt service. In addition, the current jail would then face an annual operating cost of $549,000. The sum of the debt service and the operating cost adds up to $1.3 million annually. On the other hand, Appomattox could invest in the Amherst regional jail, which they did … The regional jail would cost Appomattox $499,000 annually in operating cost. And since Appomattox is already spending $222,000 subsidizing the current jail, the increase would only be $277,000 from what it is already paying.
Once completed, the new regional jail in Amherst is projected to house 42 percent Amherst inmates, 14 percent Appomattox inmates, and 44 percent BRRJA inmates.
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