GATESVILLE, TX — The same day the Coryell County Commissioner's Court set its tax rate and budget for the coming fiscal year, a budget which did not include new jail, they voted to take a bold step toward making that jail a reality.
Commissioners hope the formation of two committees will put the jail project on the fast-track.
Sherri Leach recently came to the Coryell County Jail to visit a relative doing time. However the relative was not there. Jailbreak? No. Illness? No. Did the jail lose him? No.
"They're in another jail. Where? Milam County he said," Leach explained.
Coryell County sends lots of jail inmates to Milam County. That's one reason voters made an extra effort to demand commissioners put money for a new jail in the budget.
The budget passed without jail money.
The call for a new jail seemed to start when money got tight, and the County decided to send inmates to other jails, particularly Milam County, some 75 miles away.
Not only did the distance increase, eventually the cost did too.
"For a number of years, it was $45 a day to house an inmate there. In the meantime, per the agreement, it has increased to $47 a day," explained Coryell County Judge Roger Miller.
Voters and even commissioners later realized they could build a new jail for less money.
So after passing a budget with no jail, commissioners turned around and formed two committees to study a jail and justice center. But even on the "fast track," Coryell taxpayers will have to wait.
"I think 10 to 12 months is probably the earliest that we could break ground. In that, we're really looking at about a three-year window," said Miller.
Judge Miller's three-year time window assumes total agreement on all jail topics, such as where to locate it and how big to build it. He believes it will take a year to study, 18 months to build and 6 more months for training and certification.
And the cost? Study will narrow that number down, too. But with expenses going up, so will taxes.
"Oh absolutely! There is no way that we could absorb the debt service as well as the operational cost under our current tax rate," Judge Miller said.
Taxpayers like Sherri Lynch will then have to balance the cost of higher taxes with money spent on the long trip to Cameron.
"It would be easier for him to be here," she said.
She said more inmates in this jail would help even more people outside its walls.
"Would that help you?" asked 25 News reporter Dennis Turner.
"It might help me, yeah, and probably a lot of other people, probably a lot of other people," responded Leach.
People whose only chance at seeing friends and family behind bars, requires them to stay in the same county.
