(August 14, 2008)- McLennan County officials went to work Thursday on the details of a contract with a new company that wants to pay to build and run a $38 million dollar jail that would help ease overcrowding.
In a 3-2 vote Wednesday, commissioners decided to let the company Community Education Centers, or CEC, build a new 871 bed facility next to the county jail on Highway 6 in Waco, at no cost to taxpayers.
The county would lease space for $25 per inmate per day from CEC.
That's significantly cheaper than the $45 dollars the county spends on each person in their current jail.
Negotiations aren't final, but after about 20 years, the county would own the jail.
The contract with CEC is runs for 5 years.
After that, if the company were to default, or if the county didn't like what it was doing, commissioners could switch to another company.
Some commissioners expressed concern over possible difficulty finding another company to step up to the plate after only received one response to letters to 14 private companies asking for proposals on building the new jail.
But both the county judge and commissioners agree the need for more jail space is growing, creating an opportunity for companies looking to help alleviate that problem for Texas counties.
Commissioners say the tax increase associated with the county paying to build its own jail could have been as high as a 12 percent.
After contracts are signed, CEC says it will take about 15 months for the new jail to be operational.
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