CAPE COUNTY FACES NEW JAIL PHONE COSTS

JACKSON, Mo. -- Cape Girardeau County commissioners plan to tap into 911 funds to pay the $35,749 cost of installing telephones in the new jail and sheriff's office.

Commissioners and Sheriff John Jordan said Thursday they were surprised to find that the cost wasn't included in the more than $200,000 spent on the new telephone system installed throughout county offices last year.

"It takes your breath away," said Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones.

But county officials said they have no choice but to pay the added expense.

"We can't do without phones," said Auditor H. Weldon Macke.

Jordan thinks most of the cost could be paid from the 911 fund, which goes to operate the emergency phone system. Calls to the sheriff's office are routed through the 911 emergency system.

The emergency 911 money comes from an 8 percent tax paid by telephone customers on the base charge for local service.

Despite the added cost, Jordan said the new jail has stayed pretty much on budget.

Macke said the cost of the new building , including furnishings, could approach $8.5 million.

Jordan said the new jail, built adjacent to the existing jail, will begin housing county prisoners on March 5. The U.S. Marshal's Service is scheduled to start housing federal prisoners in the new jail on March 12.

The opening is about a month behind the original schedule. The sheriff said the transition of moving equipment into the new facility has taken longer than expected.

Sales tax money

In other business, Macke told the commission the county received $744,684 in sales tax money during the first two months of the year. That's up 8 percent from the same period last year.

"Definitely, we will breathe a little easier," the auditor said of county finances.

Macke said the revenue doesn't reflect Christmas sales, which should be reflected in the March sales tax check.

In other action, county commissioners accepted an American flag from Ed and Barbara Frenzel of Jackson, Mo. The 5-by-10-foot flag had covered the coffin of Barbara Frenzel's uncle, Leo Hoffner, who grew up in Dongola, Ill., and had served in the Army during World War II. He died in 1998.

Second District Commissioner Joe Gambill said the county will find a place to fly the flag.

"It could be starting a trend," he said of the flag donation. "That's fine."