Washtenaw County Jail/District Court Millage Proposal

Official Policy
December 2004

The Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce supports the County Jail/District Court millage before county voters on February 22, 2005.  The County has demonstrated that the following capital improvements are needed and justified—jail expansion, new District Court, and infrastructure upgrades.  The overall plan recommended by Washtenaw County Administration and the Criminal Justice Collaborative Council (CJCC) and approved by the County Board of Commissioners, is rationale and reasonable.

 Background Information

History:  The Washtenaw County Jail was constructed in 1978.  In 1981, it was expanded to 231 beds; in 1982 to 251 beds; in 1989 to 285 beds.  All expansions were done by converting non-housing space into housing space.  Voters rejected the county’s 1998 proposal--.25 mills, 20 years, for new construction, rehab, and a juvenile detention center—by a 3-2 margin.  A “direct supervision” (guard among inmates) unit was added in 1998, bringing the total to 332, and later built the juvenile detention center.   Voters rejected the county’s 2000 proposal--.35 mills, 15 years to construct a new courthouse downtown, locating county courts in downtown, adding parking downtown and a satellite court house at the County Service Center.  The Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce did not take a position on the 1998 proposal and supported the 2000 proposal.

 Jail:  The jail currently has 332 beds, which translates to .993 beds per 1,000 people in Washtenaw County, the lowest jail beds/population in the State of Michigan.  The state average is 1.715.  The jail is overcrowded—the County released inmates due to overcrowding 16 times in 2003.  The county has used other resources/services to get around having an undersized jail—Washtenaw County has one of the highest community corrections utilization rates in the state. 

Probation Residential Center:  The County currently has contracts with not-for-profits located in other counties to provide a total of 25 PRC placements.  There is a greater need for this type of service in Washtenaw County

Community Health Diversion:  Historically, diversion services have been limited to those individuals who meet the service criteria for Community Mental Health services as defined by the Michigan Mental Health Code.  

District Court:  The District Court is currently housed across the parking lot in a facility that is no longer fully functional

.75 county-wide millage for 20 years.  This would generate an estimated $313 million in tax revenues.
$314,213,714 Total Cost
$250,246,089 Total Operating Cost*
$166,515,653 jail expansion operations**
$83,730,436 Mental Health Diversion Programming
$63,967,625 Total Debt Service

$48 million in capital costs

• Increase the # of jail beds from 332 to 508-560 ($15 million)
• Provide $20 million in infrastructure upgrades
• Construct a new District Court ($10 million)

$18 million in interest

*90% of operating costs is personnel.  Other costs include medical and food.

**The County uses general fund dollars to operate the current 332 bed jail.  The County    would continue to use general fund dollars to operate 332 beds.  The millage would be used to fund operations due to increased capacity and new programming.

Analysis in Favor of the Millage

• The county has effectively maximized the current jail facility in tandem with other corrections programs;  Washtenaw County has one of the highest community corrections utilization rates in the state
• The County has reduced costs in other areas of county operations, eliminating ~100 positions in the past two budget years
• The proposed plan will provide improved security and improved efficiency.  It will improve district court security and reduce the costs associated with transporting individuals to court and to Jackson County due to overcrowding 
• Washtenaw County has clearly demonstrated the need for more jail beds. 
• Renovating the existing site is more cost effective and more pragmatic than building a new jail
• Mental Health Diversion programming is expensive, but it is also expensive to house mentally ill inmates in jail 
• The Criminal Justice community is in agreement that this is the appropriate plan to address the problem
• Many of the inmates released early due to overcrowding are property crime offenders—b urglaries & retail theft—which impacts local businesses

• Operating costs constitute 80% of the proposal, ~$250 million of the proposed $314 million
• The proposal does not include a plan to return operating costs to the County’s general   fund.  100% of the current jail’s operating funds come from the County’s general fund currently
• The annual operating costs associated with this plan will be ~$20.5 million when the millage expires.  This will likely result in a permanent shift of operating costs to a millage
• The County has long operated an undersized jail.  The proposed plan is to build and operate a reasonable sized jail for our community.  The operating costs associated with it are not unreasonable given our community size and tax base
• Washtenaw County is mandated by law to provide and operate a county jail.  This is a core county service.  The County is not proposing using any “ core funds” for the capital or operating costs of this proposal
• $15 million(5%) of this proposal goes toward constructing more jail beds
• Washtenaw County is not using its available capital reserves to fund a portion of this proposal.  The County could bond for $15-$20 million of this project using its capital reserve funds.  These are the funds that have been used to help build other county facilities.
• The capital improvements in this proposal may only be a 10 year solution
• Cheaper solutions may be available (i.e. sending inmates to Jackson County, or building a 2^nd facility)