Owen County commissioners said Thursday they will push to secure a financing plan and potential construction contract for a new sheriff’s jail this year, and scheduled two meetings in August for contractors and financial advisers to present options.

Commissioner Sam, speaking for the Board of Commissioners, told the room that the county has spent about $600,000 on prior work and property purchases and that the public has been paying a dedicated public safety tax that is intended for a jail. "This is about our fourteenth fifteenth year working on this jail project," Sam said. "If we don't get under contract or some sort of agreement this year, we're in trouble. We're in serious trouble, sir."

The commissioners set a regular meeting on Aug. 7 and a special, jail-only meeting at 10 a.m. Aug. 15 in the commissioners room. Presentations expected at those meetings include financial consultant Jeff Peters, design/engineering representatives (Dan Zarn of Garmon and an architect from Alabadas/Alavadas) and construction firms that the commissioners invited.

Why it matters: commissioners said continued delay raises costs and further burdens taxpayers who have been paying the public safety tax without a completed facility. At Thursday's meeting, staff and commissioners discussed the county's prior outlays — a property purchase (described in the meeting as about "300 some thousand") and roughly $250,000 on studies and environmental work — and warned that construction inflation will increase the price every year the project is postponed.

Discussion: Commissioners and invited advisers discussed financing options and next steps but took no binding financing vote. Commissioner Sam said he had talked with Jeff Peters and expects the consultant to bring both solutions and difficult news. Commissioners emphasized they will not sign contracts before they understand the payment terms, interest rates and repayment timeline. "I've gotta see something in writing on how the payments look, what the terms are, what the interest rate is," one commissioner said.

Next steps: The Board of Commissioners directed staff to arrange presentations from the listed consultants and contractors for the Aug. 7 meeting and to hold the Aug. 15 special session to focus solely on the jail. No contract was approved at the July 17 meeting.

Budgetary context: commissioners repeatedly referenced the public safety tax revenues that have been collected for the jail, prior expenditures on the project and a cited annual construction inflation rate discussed in the meeting (commissions referenced about 6% per year and an illustrative $1.5 million increase for each year of delay). Those figures were presented in the meeting by commissioners and advisers as context for urgency.

Ending: Commissioners asked the public and council members to attend the Aug. 7 and Aug. 15 sessions to hear the financial and construction briefings.