Thursday, May 06, 1999
Foundry site is likely for Butler jail
Cost figures sway opinions of 2 commissioners
BY STEVE KEMME
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON — Butler County commissioners appear ready to select the former Deuscher foundry property on Hanover Street as the site of a new county jail.
After learning from a consultant Wednesday that it would cost $7 million more to build a jail in downtown Hamilton, all three commissioners expressed strong support for the Deuscher site.
Commissioner Mike Fox has long favored this site, while Commissioners Courtney Combs and Chuck Furmon have preferred the downtown site.
But after listening to a report Wednesday from Kimball Associates of Edensburg, Pa., Messrs. Combs and Furmon said they were strongly leaning toward the Deuscher site.
“I've liked the downtown site, but I can't justify the difference in cost,” Mr. Furmon said.
“The numbers look favorable to the Deuscher site,” Mr. Combs said. “That's probably the way I'll vote.”
Both Mr. Combs and Mr. Furmon said they would study the consultant's report more before making a final decision.
Butler County wants to build a new jail to replace the existing one on Court Street, which is deteriorating and overcrowded. It was built 38 years ago to hold 80 prisoners, but it often houses more than 180.
It would cost $42 million to buy property and build a jail on 10.8 acres downtown, while it would cost $35 million to locate on the Deuscher site, the consultant's report says.
On the Deuscher site, acquisition and demolition costs would be $4 million cheaper than downtown and construction costs would be $3 million cheaper.
Because the downtown site is smaller, the county would be forced to build a multistory jail, which is more expensive to build and to operate than a single-story jail.
A jail on the downtown site would cost $18 million more to operate in the first 30 years than a jail on the Deuscher site, the report says. A single-story jail requires a smaller staff than a multistory jail.
The least expensive site the county has considered is county owned property at the top of a hill near the Butler County Care Facility on Princeton Road. But the commissioners backed away from that site after neighbors objected to a jail near their homes.
“Given the options, I think the Deuscher site is it,” Mr. Fox said.
The defeat of the Butler County Children Services 2.4-mill levy Tuesday has heightened the commissioners' concerns about the cost of a new jail.
If voters fail to approve a Children Services levy by the end of this year, the commissioners will be required to pay for the agency's state-required services.
Children Services depends on its existing 2-mill levy for about half of its revenue. But that will expire at the end of the year. The Children Services Board will consider placing another levy on the ballot in November.
“With the defeat of the Children Services levy, and as tight as this county's finances is going to be,” Mr. Combs said, “we don't have the luxury of spending $7 million more to build a jail on the downtown site.”
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