How

to come up with $60 million for a new county jail

and courthouse will be a hot topic again at the

Fayette County Commission's next meeting.

An

authority charged with raising funds for public

buildings in the county should be created, just

in case the commission wants to use special

revenue bonds, Commissioner Greg Dunn said during

discussions last week.

The

commission won't meet again until Wednesday, Dec.

1. Its Nov. 11 meeting has been cancelled because

it conflicts with Veterans Day, and its Nov. 23

meeting conflicts with Thanksgiving.

On

the Dec. 1 agenda will a discussion of whether to

create a special authority, which would have the

power to issue revenue bonds without putting the

matter to a vote of the general public.

"There

are pros and cons to every way we could finance

this major project," said Dunn last week,

"and we as a board have got to explore all

of them." Creation of an authority wouldn't

mean that the county will necessarily use that

avenue to fund the jail, Dunn said, but it would

provide more options.

"This

could give us one more arrow in our quiver,"

he said.

Dunn

made a motion to create the authority last week,

but Commissioner Linda Wells said she wants more

details. "Authorities are entities that

answer to no one," she said. "I would

like their responsibilities and obligations more

clearly delineated before I would vote to create

one," she added.

The

authority's only responsibility would be to

finance pubic buildings, Dunn said. "The

board would have very limited

responsibilities," he said, but then

withdrew his motion, saying he was in sympathy

with Wells' request for more time to consider the

proposal.

Meanwhile,

commissioners asked finance director Emory McHugh

to provide updated information on the relative

long-term and short-term costs of issuing bonds

versus levying a special purpose local option

sales tax to pay for the jail and courthouse.

McHugh

provided a comparison earlier, but commissioners

pointed out that in recent weeks bond prices have

soared.

Commissioners

recently have purchased land next to the current

site of the Fayette County Jail and County

Courthouse and have been working with consulting

firm Mallett and Associates to plan an addition

to the jail and a completely new three-story

courthouse facility, plus renovation of the old

jail and old courthouse to create a completely

new complex.

The

complex is expected to face Jimmie Mayfield

Boulevard, on 65 acres bordered on east and west

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