Letter To The Editor: Jethro Bodine says ... "Sheriff's Jail Just Don't Cipher Out!"

Published by Jimmy Oldsun, NDRIRSRWRAFTC & Editor

Date:  11/9/2010
Post:  1,043

Jethro Bodine, one of our FREE subscribers, sent in the following 'Letter to the Editor' today .....

Dear Editor,

I've been readin' a lot about a new county jail which the Sheriff and a few of his supporters are pushing.  Now the way I look at it, we should do some careful cipherin' before we get too far down the road on this idea.  And IF it does cipher out, we need to remember that by statute, the doggone thing needs to be built in the county seat of Hermann ..... not in Rosebud or Swiss or any other place.

I pulled out a #2 lead pencil and my Big Chief writin' and cipherin' tablet last night, and I commenced to cipherin'.  I recommend the Sheriff do his own cipherin' rather than rely upon the Columbia consulting firm he went out and hired to give him the answer he wants.  (Ooooops!  Did I actually write that?  Naughty me!)

Here's how I figured it last night on my 'Big Chief' tablet .......

Total Capital Cost of Constructing a Jail = TCC
(Get three estimates and average them together.  Don't forget that county jail design will need to meet minimum construction standards as well as all pertinent local, state and federal regulations.)

Total Annual Operating Expense of the Proposed Jail = TOE
(Calculate this by plugging best available estimates into the formula shown below.)

Total Annual Net Fees to House Prisoners in Jails of Adjoining Counties = TNF
(Calculate this by subtracting Missouri state reimbursements from the fees charged to Gasconade 
County by adjoining counties.)

TOE = DL + CL + UE + IE + OS + IT + ME + BM + PM + AE

where:

DL = Annual Direct Labor Expense (including benefits) for County Deputies Required to Staff Jail
CL = Annual Indirect Labor Expense Billed by Contractors Engaged to Provide Service to Jail
UE = Annual Utility Expenses (electricity, water, sewer, etc.) to Operate Jail
IE = Annual Increase in Cost of Liability Insurance and Property and Casualty Insurance Associated With Operation of the Jail
OS = Annual Operating Supplies Associated With Operation of the Jail
IT = Annual Information Technology Expenses, Computer Expenses, Telephone and Fax Machine Expenses
ME = Annual Medical and Dental Expenses Associated with Care of Prisoners
BM = Annual Building Maintenance and Custodial Expenses Associated with Operation of Jail
PM = Annual Cost of Prisoner/Detainee Meals
AE = Annual Advetising Expenses for Sheriff's Bearcat Affinity Ads

If TOE > TNF, then we really need to question why we would want to construct out own county jail vs. contracting the job out to Crawford County (currently) or Montgomery County (formerly).

If TOE < TNF, then what is the estimate annual savings to the county?  Let's call this estimated annual savings = EAS.

Now if this EAS amount is sufficient to both service the debt (interest payments) and retire the debt over a 15 or 20 year period (principal payments), we should double-check our cipherin' and perhaps consider the county jail project.

If however this EAS amount is not sufficient to both service the debt (interest payments) and retire the debt over a 15 or 20 year period (principal payments), we should back away from the project and vote out of office those who have been pushing the project without first running the numbers.

Sheriff Esphorst  and Southern District Associate Commissioner Lairmore, I still have several pages left in my 'Big Chief' writin' and cipherin' tablet and a few #2 lead pencils.  You are welcome to use my cipherin' supplies ...... that is if you'd like to "put a pencil to paper" yourselves!  According to my best cipherin', a new county jail just doesn't pay out for Gasconade County at this time!  I've tried various assumptions for the elements of cost to operate the jail, and I just don't see how we could get our operating costs down below the approximate $500,000 net jailing fees I am told we have paid out over the course of the past 5 years.



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