With the clock ticking on Commissioners' self-imposed $8.5 million jail vote deadline, one official's plan has shifted.
District 2 Commissioner David Anderson has advocated a tenth of a cent redistribution of the .35 of a cent sales tax dedicated to the Gary E. Miller Canadian County Children's Justice Center. During a Monday meeting of the committee formed to study funding options, Anderson's plan seemed to change, which surprised some committee members.
“We can phase into a sales tax redirection,” Anderson said. “We need to determine the timing of when that total redirection will occur.”
When questioned about phasing the sales tax change in, Anderson said it was never set to begin taking money away from the children's justice center immediately. However, Monday's meeting was the first time any committee member had heard of phasing as an option, District Court Judge Gary Miller said.
“This is the first I've heard of this, maybe I was asleep when it was mentioned before,” Miller said.
There had never been any discussions concerning phasing in the sales tax shift under Anderson's previously proposed plan.
“This is news to me,” Piedmont Police Chief Jerry Koester said. “I don't know where this is coming from.”
Anderson and Municipal Finance President Rick Smith, the county's financial adviser, said the immediate shift was one option they discussed. It was unclear whether Anderson's fellow Commissioners were in favor of a phased sales tax shift or if they knew about the idea prior to Monday's meeting.
“One of the more recent concepts was just to defer until the existing debt (on the children's justice center) was paid off in December 2012,” Smith said.
Under Anderson's new idea, the total .35 of a cent sales tax allocated to the children's justice center would be stockpiled in anticipation of paying off the estimated $4.9 million in debt on bonds used for the center's construction, he said.

Where the redirected funds could go
One aspect of Anderson's plan not made clear at the outset was what Smith called a flexibility issue. If approved, Anderson's tenth percent of a cent redirection would not necessarily be allocated only to a jail.
“This would use a tenth of a cent for general fund purposes, not dedicated to the jail, which would be appropriated by the Commissioners,” Smith said.
That would enable Commissioners to use the funds for any county purpose they see fit, and they would not be locked into paying for the jail with those funds, Smith said.

Property tax growth
Miller, who weeks ago brought up the idea of pursuing grants to help fund the jail, presented a new plan to committee members Monday. Increases in property values and taxes already assessed by the county should bring in enough funds to cover operation of the jail once it is operational. Officials estimated that would be three years from the passage of any resolution by a vote of the people.
Under that scenario, Yukon National Bank President Randy Wright said it might be possible for the county to get a loan for the project. Committee members heard a discussion two weeks ago from Larry Ledford, U.S. Department of Agriculture representative, about the agency's interest in guaranteeing a loan for the project on behalf of the county. Wright said the option was worth pursuing.
“If the USDA would guarantee 90 percent of the loan, community banks would seriously look at this project,” Wright said. “That 10 percent doesn't go into my lending authority.
“It could happen,” he said.

Time running out?
Committee members are set to meet again Monday to discuss specifics of Anderson's phasing plan and other options. If Commissioners insist on holding a February vote, a resolution must go to the county election board by Dec. 9.
“I don't know about the February timing, but that's another discussion,” Wright said.