CAPE COUNTY PLANS FURTHER FOR JAIL ADDITION

JACKSON -- If all goes well, Cape Girardeau County could solicit bids and sell bonds by the end of November for an addition to the county jail.

The County Commission Monday reviewed documents necessary to put the financing in place and heard the annual audit report.

The county, with more than $11 million on hand at the end of 1997, is in a strong position to finance some $5 million in revenue bonds for construction of a 152-bed addition to the county jail, said county officials.

"If the county were in business, we would have made $1.2 million in profit in 1997," said Auditor H. Weldon Macke. And the financial situation looks similar as he prepares the 1999 county budget.

Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said the county has enough money in the bank to build the addition but can actually make money by borrowing money. The county's money is invested at a higher interest rate than it will pay to retire the bonds.

With $11.6 million in the bank, companies have been lining up to lend money to the county.

The county has been working for months on plans for the addition to the jail, which is expected to cost $5 million to $7 million.

The county determined early on it would be economical to add on to the jail rather than start from scratch. The expansion will enable the jail to hold more than 200 prisoners.

The county has selected Gilmore Bell as bond attorneys and Edward D. Jones as bonding agents to sell the bonds. The next step will be to select a trustee bank or company to manage the money.

An audit is among documents needed to sell revenue bonds for the projects. If all goes as projected, construction bids and sale of revenue bonds will take place this month or early December, Jones said.

The county is expected to issue bonds to pay for the construction, and no tax increase would be needed to pay for the bonds.

In addition, the U.S. marshal's service, which is responsible for federal suspects awaiting trial, will contract with the expanded jail to house prisoners. Payments to house the federal prisoners are expected to pay off the bonds plus provide additional funding for county law-enforcement operations.

The county already has an agreement with the marshal's service for a $1.5 million grant for the jail improvements. Daily fees on top of the grant will be paid for housing federal prisoners.

In its audit report, the county's auditing firm, Schott and Van de Ven, made a number of recommendations to improve the county's financial reporting. For example, the auditors recommended that grants received by the county be included in the formal budgeting process. That change was made for the 1998 budget, Macke said.

In addition, the auditors recommended adding special funds like the prosecuting attorney's bad check fund to the formal budgeting process.

The auditors looked at that and similar funds operated by various county offices and will submit a report on findings to the commission.