The new Jackson County Jail design that came with a $160 million price tag in 2020 and was rejected by voters has since nearly doubled in cost, a top official said this week. 

Jackson County Administrator Danny Jordan told the Board of Commissioners Thursday that the same jail design proposal from four years ago is now “pushing $300 million” in today’s numbers due to rising material and labor costs.

“That’s the inflationary difference — fairly significant,” Jordan told the commissioners.

Jackson County voters in May 2020 rejected a tax district that would fund the construction of a new jail on property the county bought in 2018 in north Medford. As proposed, the district would cover cover the roughly $160 million in construction costs plus the added operation costs for a new facility that would have more than doubled the capacity of the current jail, built in 1981. According to news reports at the time, a factor in the last measure being rejected was that it came to voters at a time of high unemployment in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Jordan’s update Thursday was part of a work session discussing capital projects that included a new animal shelter and the potential feasibility of a new jail to replace the existing facility, which holds a maximum of roughly 300 inmates. Specifically, Jordan said that the county caps inmates at 280 so deputies have flexibility separating inmates and moving them around when needed. 

Jordan told commissioners that he and staff are uncertain a new proposal using the same design is “going to hack it” with voters. County staff have looked into different ways to reduce costs by as much as a third with a slightly smaller new jail, although he voiced reservations at the proposal with the steepest cuts.

“Probably the least expensive is around $190 million,” Jordan said, but he doesn’t believe that it’s “the best least-expensive option.” Instead, Jordan recommended a proposal closer to $210 million.

“If we go the cheapest, it really limits our opportunities for expansion,” Jordan said. “If we spend that little bit more, it helps us be able to expand later.”

The 2020 jail proposal had a maximum capacity of more than 800 beds and a usable capacity of roughly 600. The downsized proposals have a maximum capacity of roughly 600 beds, of which about 500 would be usable.

Once the county finalizes its operating cost estimates, Jordan said his plan is to prepare another survey “and see if it’s even feasible.”

Jordan said that the decision whether to launch another survey would be for the commissioners to decide, but surveys were previously used in the formation of the library district, as well as the last law enforcement district attempt. The survey ahead of the 2020 law enforcement district vote cost the county roughly $20,000. 

“All of those surveys have pretty much been right-on to the vote,” Jordan said. “I think it’s a really good way to proceed without locking ourselves into more costs if we can’t get there.”

The county had not contacted the survey company or crafted any questions as of Thursday morning, according to Jordan. Commissioners at the work session authorized Jordan to have county staff begin work on a survey. 

Jordan described communication as important. He said that although a new facility would be an improvement over a severely undersized jail, the less-expensive options would not entirely prevent overcrowding.

“We want to let the public know what we really need … I don’t want to sell a 600-bed jail like it’s going to fix all the problems because it’s not,” Jordan said describing the smaller jail compared to the 800-plus bed facility.

The size of the property has room to grow, but Jordan said that he’s mindful of how the 1981 jail was initially designed for later expansion by up to three floors but was thwarted by revised building and earthquake codes.

“I don’t want to get us into the same situation,” Jordan said.

The county is also looking to devote to the capital project about $40 million from the general fund reserve, but the exact numbers — and the exact rate — are still being worked out as staff calculates operations costs.

Jordan said in a phone interview Friday that capital and construction costs make up only a small part of the proposal. The bulk of the district over the next 20 years will cover added operations costs involved in the new facility compared to the current one. In the 2020 proposal, for instance, construction made up only about 10% of the bond over 20 years.

Jordan said that operating the current jail costs the county about $16 million annually, of which about $12 million is covered by the county general fund. The remainder is covered by grants, gifts and other revenue. The tax district — after four or five years covering covering bond debt — would shift to covering the added operating costs of the new jail above that $16 million. The exact operation costs are still being tabulated, but are nearly complete.

An expanded jail population would significantly increase the county’s medical and dental expenses for inmates. Jordan said that “a lot of people in the jail have medical issues that have not been addressed.”

“When they’re in jail, we’re responsible for physical, mental and dental health — and that doesn’t get paid by anyone else but the jail budget,” Jordan told commissioners.

Jordan told commissioners in the meeting that compared to other jails, Jackson County’s inmate medical costs are among the least expensive in the state at about $1.5 million to $2 million per year. With an expanded inmate population, Jackson County Counsel Joel Benton anticipated the annual medical costs to rise to about $8 million.

“It’s not only just more people you’re serving; the standard to which care you have to provide — it continues to grow,” Benton said.

Jordan said county staff are still in the process of analyzing everything from added food and utility costs for the larger facility to costs needed to transport inmates from the north Medford location to the Jackson County Justice Building. The goal is to get everything “as acceptable as possible,” with plans to present proposals to commissioners potentially as soon as next week. 

“We’re fine-tuning it right now,” Jordan said.