If

you have an extra $60 million lying around, the

Fayette County Commission wants to talk to you.

In

coming weeks, the commission's jail committee

will put together a packet of information on

plans for a new jail and courthouse complex,

including options for funding.

But

commissioners probably won't decide how to fund

the mammoth project until after county voters

rule on the Fayette County Board of Education's

special purpose local option sales tax proposal

Sept. 21.

"I

don't think we need to be making any grandiose

decisions right in the middle of the school

board's last few weeks [of educational efforts

before the SPLOST referendum comes to a

vote]," Commissioner Greg Dunn said last

week during a jail committee meeting.

sales tax is among the most popular options, but

members of the jail committee are concerned that

voters may not approve such a tax for the county

project right on the heels of a vote on the

school board's $90 million SPLOST proposal.

If

both sales tax proposals were approved, the

result would be an additional two cents per

dollar charged on goods and services in Fayette,

raising the tax from five cents to seven.

"People

are going to get fed up," said Sheriff

Randall Johnson, a member of the jail committee.

Dunn

said the commission is going to have to bite the

bullet and build the jail, whether voters approve

a sales tax or not. "The people in the

county will just have to understand that we don't

have a choice here," he said. "It may

be unpopular for awhile, but we're just going to

have to go."

With

the current jail holding twice the number of

inmates it was designed for, county officials

have agreed for years now that if they don't

build a new jail soon, federal courts will order

them to, and will take control of the project

away from the county.

Other

options for funding the project include a bond

issue (paid back over a period of years using the

county's general fund), using impact fees or

simply increasing property taxes enough to cover

the cost.

bond issue would cost less each year, but over

the life of the bond would double the cost, said

Commissioner Herb Frady, one of two county

commissioners on the jail committee.

An

additional option, said county attorney Bill

McNally, would be to issue bonds and begin

construction, then ask voters for a sales tax

later to pay off the bonds faster.

Impact

fees might defray some of the cost, but only a

small part, said county manager Billy Beckett.

Impact fees are charged to developers to recoup

the cost of new county facilities needed to serve

the new residents they bring in, but the county

must prove that it is charging only enough to

repay the cost added by the new residents.

All

other costs must be paid by current residents.

The

fourth option is unlikely. Property taxes in

Fayette would shoot through the roof if tax rates

were increased enough to pay for the construction

outright.

In

that scenario, the county would have to raise

taxes enough to pay for construction as it is

accomplished, spreading the cost over only two or

three years. A mill of property tax in Fayette

($40 on a $100,000 property) provides about $2.5

million in revenue, so it would take 24 mills, or

eight mills if spread over three years, to build

the jail and courthouse.

The

jail committee will present all the options to

the Board of Commissioners, which will make a

decision sometime after the Sept. 21 school board

vote. "There's no unanimity on the board

yet," said Dunn.