Davis jail expansion is $1.5 million under budget

FARMINGTON — Within the next three weeks Davis County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Kevin McLeod will breathe a seven-year sigh of relief.

By now, he's likely used to the stress of overseeing a near-$25 million jail project.

But one thing that lightens his load is knowing the jail has been completed under budget, and inmates are moving into new cells.

Davis County issued a $24.8 million bond to double the jail capacity to 776 inmates.

Davis County Sheriff Bud Cox reported to the Davis County Board of Commissioners that with interest on the bond and about $600,000 in cost savings, his office will return $1.5 million to the county.

"My goal when we started this project was to give the county back a half million dollars," McLeod said. "We came pretty darn close to the half million figure plus interest on bond. It worked out good."

There's also a possible $61,000 the county can recoup in energy credits for measures incorporated into the facility to reduce energy use.

That's extra money the county could use toward paying off the jail debt, McLeod said.

Commissioners applauded McLeod's efforts to be frugal with jail costs.

"Coming in under budget is not a term commonly used these days," said Commissioner Alan Hansen.

Friday, officials at the Davis County Jail began moving 110 male inmates to new cells.

About 100 female inmates have been housed in the recently expanded part of the jail for the past several weeks.

All inmate moves, including the placement of about 100 state inmates to fill empty beds, should be completed in the next three weeks with the first male inmates arriving in coming days.

"It takes quite a bit of work to get them moved and get them settled in," McLeod says.

The county also contracts with the federal government to house as many federal inmates as the jail can accommodate to keep it full because the county gets money for housing them.

"We've got some open beds and we want to collect that revenue while we can," he said.

McLeod won't be able to completely relax, because the jail is short of the needed number of booking clerks.

In December, county commissioners unanimously approved a 37 percent increase on the county portion of property taxes — about $60 on the average home valued at $171,000 — expected to bring in $7 million a year to county coffers.

Part of that revenue — $4.2 million — will fund jail operations.

So far, the sheriff's office has hired all of the deputies it needs to run the jail. It has also hired 29 of the needed 46 booking clerks and the 17 remaining positions should be filled soon, McLeod said.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com