Issue Facing County Now: Financing of That New Jail

The Board of Supervisors, having picked a site for a massive jail two weeks ago, this week will confront the more difficult issue of financing the 6,000-inmate facility.

On Thursday the supervisors are scheduled to consider when to ask county voters to authorize the property tax increase that will be needed to finance an estimated $249 million in bonds to build the jail’s first phase.

Supervisor Don R. Roth said he prefers putting the question to the voters this November, rather than waiting until next June.

Roth said he wants to “lay it out to (the voters) and tell them what the truth is,” namely, that their taxes will have to go up to pay for a new jail. “It’s the only way the county can go, and if you people are really sincere about wanting law and order, I guess that’s the bullet you have to bite.”

But Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez questioned whether less than four months “would offer sufficient time for the voters to weigh the merits of the issue.” Vasquez said another argument in favor of waiting until next year was the estimated cost to the county of $400,000 for a November ballot measure against an estimated $50,000 next June.

Although county officials said Monday that they are not certain how much the property tax hike would be, few people expect the voters to say yes. Two-thirds of the voters would have to approve the increase before the bonds could be issued.

Three weeks ago, County Administrative Officer Larry Parrish told the supervisors that for months the county and a consultant had reviewed voting trends in the county and the fate of ballot measures for jails and tax increases across the state and nation.

“There is no aspect of the findings that would lead us to the conclusion that a ballot measure to increase taxes for jail facilities would be successful in Orange County,” Parrish said in his report to the board.

Parrish said voters would probably back the “public safety” aspect of the need for a new jail. But he said “critical factors” to the successful passage of a bond issue would be high Democratic Party registration, unanimous support from public officials, no controversy over the jail’s location and no opposition group with money to fight the county.

By that yardstick, the county is zero for four: Republicans outnumber Democrats in the county; Yorba Linda and Anaheim officials oppose putting the jail in Gypsum and Coal canyons, east of Anaheim Hills; there was controversy over putting the jail in the canyons; there are likely to be citizen groups with money to fight the bond issue.

Parrish’s report was dated July 8; on July 15 the supervisors picked the two canyons for the jail over three other sites: Fremont Canyon, Chiquita Canyon and Irvine Lake.

Picking a site would increase the likelihood of passing a bond issue, Parrish said, but “the two-thirds requirement and the tax-increase aspects will continue to be difficult to overcome.”

Parrish’s estimate of $400,000 for a Nov. 3 election and $50,000 for an election next June results from the fact that, with fewer local elections this November, the county will have to pay more of the cost of getting the issue on the ballot. There will be more cities and districts to defray the costs next June during a congressional and presidential election year.

The ultimate cost of the full jail complex and associated facilities is estimated at well over $600 million, according to the county’s environmental impact report.

Along with the jail bonds, the supervisors are being asked to decide if they want to ask the voters for an estimated $156 million to pay for a new central court in the Civic Center area of Santa Ana.

To get the general obligation bond measure on the ballot for this November, the supervisors must pass a resolution by Aug. 7 authorizing the measure.

Carol A. Hoffman, a senior director of the Irvine Co., which owns Gypsum Canyon, Fremont Canyon and Irvine Lake, said Monday that the company has not begun discussing a sale of the Gypsum Canyon jail site to the county.

“We recognize the county’s right to consider this site” for a jail, Hoffman said, even though the Irvine Co. opposed having the county pick one of its properties for the facility.

“We would expect that the county would meet us to at least discuss a variety of those options” of obtaining the property, “which could include condemnation,” Hoffman said.