Proponents of opening the empty unit of the Sauk County jail have made extremely contradictory claims. First they claimed that neighboring counties have enough inmates to fill or nearly fill the open and empty units and that there is no other space to rent for these inmates. Then they said we can’t raise the rent above market price (which supposedly is the $47 to $52 per inmate day we are charging now in our operating unit).

If the demand for space is as strong as proponents claimed, we are the market and we can dictate the rent rate within a reasonable range to cover necessary costs and risks so that Sauk County taxpayers are not subsidizing other counties.

Based on my own analysis (which has been available for others to study), over a year ago I told the appropriate board and staff members that "we shouldn’t waste our time on any proposal that fails to meet all the following conditions to rent the empty unit, a guaranteed payment of $65.00 per inmate day for every bed in the unit guaranteed for at least five years." If someone is willing to meet those conditions, then we should do a final analysis to make sure that conditions haven’t changed enough that we would be subsidizing others at those rates. No one has come close to meeting any of the above conditions so far.

Increasing the jail rent rate for the open unit as soon as possible could help test the demand with far less risk to Sauk County than opening the empty unit and then trying to set a rent rate. If in the process it is determined that jail space is not as short as claimed, it may not be possible to raise the rent as much as I indicated above, and it will be obvious that opening the empty unit in those circumstances will increase taxes. The net amount of county property tax dollars spent on the jail already have increased from about $1.5 million in 2000 to about $6 million in 2004. Opening the empty unit under the conditions that have been proposed to date could raise the tax burden in the long run by additional large amounts. We don’t have to take such a large risk for so little potential reward.

Proponents have scheduled yet a fourth special committee meeting to try to open the unit. This meeting is scheduled for 9;30 A. M. Thurs April 14th in the Emergency Gov't Conference room on the first floor of the courthouse. The meeting is open to the public.

Sincerely,

Tom Kriegl