The board of county freeholders discussed at their caucus meeting Tuesday a resolution that would provide $1.2 million from the county’s capital improvements budget to help fund the $30 million upgrade for the Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny. The resolution was tabled during a meeting in September.
The freeholders talked about re-examining and possibly voting on a proposal that would shift $1.2 million from the county’s Capital Surplus Fund to the jail reconstruction project. The vote could have come as early as this past Thursday night, but results were not available at press time.
Seeking to avoid conditions at the county correctional facility that could lead to federal violations, the Hudson County Freeholders moved ahead over the summer with $30 million addition onto the Kearny facility, which would be the largest improvement made since its construction in 1987.
The six-floor addition to the jail would be constructed along the western side of the existing facility and would require the purchase of a small amount of neighboring land in order to provide for additional security around the boundary.
This facility would hold 512 low-risk inmates. If the project was approved, construction would begin in March 2001, and would take about a year and a half to complete.
Although two important elements in funding the project were approved by the board, a third $1.2 million transfer of funds from the county capital improvement budget was tabled in September because of several unresolved questions.
The project would be financed through lease purchasing. This is a method by which the county can avoid bonding, but the county would be required to make payments as part of its yearly budget, rather than increasing its debt.
Because the jail saw an abundance of additional state and federal prisoners, officials got enough state and federal reimbursement that they were able to set aside $8 million for improvements to the facility. This would reduce the overall cost to about $27 million and would mean only a modest increase in the county’s overall debt. It also would add about $2.2 million to the yearly budget. Officials also noted that some previous bonds will be paid off over the net five or six years, leaving the county’s yearly payments greatly reduced.
While Freeholder William O’Dea said he was willing to reconsider the transfer of money, he was also concerned about the status of the project and whether everything had been put on hold.
County Administrator Abe Antun said at the Oct. 24 caucus that the project is moving ahead as planned, sparking additional questions from O’Dea, who wanted to know what happens when the money runs out.
“Is there a drop dead date?” he asked, meaning a point at which the board must either find new revenue or the project stops. “Or is there a plan to scale back the project?”
O’Dea said he would like to see more firm outline of events if the freeholders do not agree to the transfer of funds.
Freeholder Chairman Sal Vega – who apparently supports the effort to transfer the money – said it would be to the county’s benefit to use the $1.2 million towards the jail. If not, then the freeholders would have to decide whether or not to scale back the project. But he cautioned the freeholders about such a proposal, noting that many of the problems the expansion project seeks to address were caused by last-minute cutbacks in the original construction.
“The history of the jail provides us with a painful lesson,” Vega said.
Other concerns
Also at the caucus, freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons raised concerns over possible expansion of the North Hudson campus of the Hudson County Schools of Technology.
In September, the Freeholders introduced a $4.3 million bond ordinance that would pay for upgrades to the Hudson County Schools of Technology. This will include the purchase and installation of surveillance equipment at various locations and various improvements to the county’s schools in Jersey City and North Bergen. Fitzgibbons asked Superintendent Frank Gargiulo if expansion was planned, saying he had concerns about expanding the North Bergen building – a former factory. Fitzgibbons said he recently learned that the Park Players, a Union City group, had been scheduled to perform at the school’s Black Box theater. He was concerned that the school would be expanding to attract more arts, when he believes there should be a separate arts school in a more accessible place.
Gargiulo responded that the bond would cover renovations and improvements, but not expansion.
Fitzgibbons said he did not want to see that campus expanded when it is relatively inaccessible to rest of the county. The Schools of Technology North Hudson Campus is located on Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen where bus service is sparse. “I would like to see [an arts high school] in Hoboken, but almost anywhere people can get to would be fine,” Fitzgibbons said, adding that he believes the freeholders have often been left in the dark about what goes on in at the North Hudson facility. Freeholders William Braker and O’Dea both complained that information they’d requested about the schools had been slow in coming back to the board. O’Dea said requested reports should be available in a reasonable amount of time, or at least, an explanation as to why the information cannot be supplied in a timely fashion.
Vega said the freeholders will ask someone from the Schools of Technology to come before the board and talk about what is going on at the facility.