Ada County wants an expanded jail. How might the county pay for it?

Ada County officials are working once again to expand the county jail, which has faced overcrowding for years. But it’s unclear where the money will come from, and voters will have to approve the expense first.

In a permit application filed this month, the Boise firm Lombard Conrad Architects laid out a proposal to expand the jails beds by more than 30% — upping the total to 1,243.

Those beds would be a mix of minimum, medium and maximum security. The expansion would also include a new food warehouse and inmate transport area, according to a letter from the architecture firm.

A $44 million plan to expand the jail was approved by the Ada County Commission, then led by Democrats, in 2020, only to be put on hold once Republicans took control of the three-member commission after that November’s election over concerns about staying accountable to taxpayers.

Since then, the population at the jail — which serves the growing Treasure Valley region — has continued to exceed capacity, though the number of inmates dropped significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of the jail’s eight standard dormitories, six were above capacity on Monday. Forty-five inmates were sleeping in cots on the floor because of a lack of bed space, according to a jail dashboard.

“Our need is great,” a spokesperson for the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, Patrick Orr, told the Idaho Statesman by phone. The Sheriff’s Office runs the jail. “It’s too small and old, and that’s a major issue for us.”

Orr said the current plan is largely the same as the one presented in 2020 but said the county is working with the architecture firm to make some alterations. Orr did not have a price estimate but said he expects it to cost more than it would have in 2020, given inflation and the rising cost of construction materials.

The county also bought adjacent land on Allumbaugh Street from Darigold, which has a milk-processing plant at 618 N. Allumbaugh, to allow for the expansion, Orr said. Part of the expansion would include a new road from Allumbaugh into the jail to make deliveries easier.

Commissioner Rod Beck told the Statesman that the purchase of the Darigold property, which closed in December, has allowed the county to move forward for the first time.

The previous board “may have wanted to move forward, but they weren’t in any position to move forward,” he said. “This is about the first time that it could have been done, because we just barely secured the land.”

Inmates sentenced to state prison often linger in the county jail longer than they should, Beck said, which boosts the jail’s population.

Beck said he is not sure yet which funding option the county will pursue, but that it will be either bonding or a lease-purchase agreement. Selling bonds that pay interest is a way for local government to borrow money to finance construction projects. With a lease agreement, the county would arrange for a long-term rental agreement with investors to use the property.

The 2020 plan was to be funded by lease-purchase financing in an arrangement with Zions Bank. At the time, that method did not require prior voter approval.

While municipal bonds require voter assent, Beck said a recent law passed by the Legislature requires lease-purchase agreements to also have the blessing of voters — though with a simple majority, versus the two-thirds required for bonds.

The new law became effective in January.

To get either proposition on the November ballot, the deadline for the commission to act is September. The three-member body could instead aim to bring the matter to voters in May. Beck said the commission plans to decide in the next couple of months.