Articles & News

August 19, 2008

Santa Barbara county jail project moves forward

Wendy Thompson, Staff Writer

Negotiations for the potential new jail in near Santa Maria are moving ahead. In May, the county received the state’s conditional award of $56.3 million to construct a 300-bed county jail with an up to 500-bed state secure facility on a portion of two parcels at the corner of Black and Betteravia Roads.

The state passed Assembly Bill 900 in May to address overcrowding in California jails, authorizing up to $1.2 billion in grant funds for local jail construction, linking it to construction of state re-entry beds for prison inmates.

In order to meet the conditions of the grant, Santa Barbara County must adopt a resolution giving assurance of site ownership and sign a Siting Agreement for a Secure Reentry Program Facility, both of which will be submitted for approval at the Aug. 19 Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting at the board’s chambers in Santa Maria. The re-entry facility would be used to house state prison inmates serving the last year of their incarceration who will be paroled in Santa Barbara County.

“These inmates would receive intensive programming to better prepare them for release into the community,” states the agenda letter to the board.

Earlier this year, the county moved to acquire approximately 50 acres at the southwest corner of Black and Betteravia Road for $3,270,000, and filed an order of pre-judgment order of possession to have fee simple ownership by mid-July, proof of which is required as a condition of the grant. The county estimates the jail’s construction costs at $80.3 million. A state grant through AB 900 would provide $56.295 million to the county toward construction, leaving the cost of $23.9 million to the county. The estimated cost for fiscal year 2009 is $2.4 million, according to the county, with annual operation estimated at $13.5-16.5 million in 2012-13, when the facility is expected to begin operation. County staff is updating options to finance the capital expenditures and operational costs to be presented to the Santa Barbara County Debt Advisory Committee meeting on Aug. 14, and its recommendations will be presented to the board at its Aug. 19 hearing. At that hearing, county staff also will present the legal analysis of the county’s ability to abandon the grant money and associated costs at various steps of the process. A list of future agreements required to ultimately acquire the AB 900 funding will also be provided. The list of counties receiving conditional awards is expected to be announced on Sept. 18.