The old Parker Center jail is 60 years old and the new state of the art "podular jail" will take more staff to operate and they do not have the funds to hire people to open the place.
How does Canyon County propose to run a new "podular jail" with fewer people when Los Angeles Police Department is on record saying it will take more staff to run a podular jail based on state and federal requirements?
The short answer is we taxpayers are being led down the primrose path on the costs of running a new "podular jail" by the Commishes and Sheriff. Here is a link to the LA story of woe on their new jail costs, No Money To Open New LA Jail.
The photo in this post is of Parker Center and the new "podular jail" going up in the background. The new jail is completed but no cash on hand to open the place for the foreseeable future. This same thing can happen in Canyon County.
On Fri. afternoon after meeting with a group of local residents who are opposed to the jail bond I spent the afternoon talking to business owners that I do business with. I spoke with 9 busneess owners and all were opposed to the bond because of the cost. With 1 exception they said that they couldn't post a sign because they were afraid of repercussions from the county if they did. This is a sad state of affairs. 3 Owners said they hadn't taken a pay check in several months and 1 said over 6 months trying to keep their co. open and to not lay off employes.It must be nice to have a guaranteed pay check like our so called civic leaders have.
ReplyDeleteYou can go to the Idaho Freedom Foundation and click on the OUR IDAHO section to see what our underpaid county employees are knocking down.
ReplyDeleteEnter Employee Salary Data All Agencies and you can pull up Canyon County. Average households in Canyon County make less than $40k/yr. go to http://www.ouridaho.com/
Here's a link to Clackamas County Jail project. They cut a $60 million jail project in half in favor of a remodel of what they had.
ReplyDeleteNo money forced reconsideration of the project.
http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2009/03/clackamas_officials_reverse_co.html
After attending the debate, it seemed to me the only person who on the "No" side who was there for the best interest of the taxpayer was Mr. Yamamoto. The other two seemed to be enjoying the limelight a little too much. I wish the moderator had asked those two if they own rental properties in the area. It seems they were there for their own greed and to enjoy the limelight. Vote YES on August 3!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMr. Yamamoto's circle of friends I presume.
ReplyDeleteRental and commercial proeprty gets taxed at nearly twice that of residental owner occupied property. They get no Homeowner exemption.
ReplyDeleteIf a new jail gets built the judges and prosecutors will fill the place before the paint is dry. There is no way two jails can be operated as cheaply as one.
Canyon County has the second highes levy rate in all of Idaho. The above comments are more than likely from government employees who have no appreciation where their pay actually comes from.
Both sides made valid points, however, I will be voting with my wallet in mind. Taxes are too high in Canyon County and it is all the taxing districts who have not made hard choices to help taxpayers out in this economy. My vote will be NO!