Jefferson County weighs selling local juvenile-detention building and pooling proceeds to fund regional capacity

Jefferson County commissioners on Oct. 20 discussed options for juvenile-detention services after reviewing regional capacity and costs.

Commissioners said the five-county arrangement currently relies on a 16-bed facility serving Bonneville, Bingham and Butte counties that has been operating at roughly 60 percent capacity. County officials said Jefferson County's own detention building is designed for adult detention and carries maintenance and staffing costs; several commissioners recommended selling that building and placing proceeds in a trust to fund future expansion in the regional facility if needed.

"We're paying $500 and some thousand dollars, and they want to bump it up to $800,000," a commissioner said while describing regional charges the county has been asked to accept. Commissioners argued that, if the county sold its building and put proceeds in a trust, the money could be used later to add beds at the regional facility and avoid carrying an underused county building.

Board members discussed staffing implications, layoff notification timelines and the operational details of closing the county building; a 2- to 3-year planning horizon for design and construction was mentioned. Commissioners also proposed a short-term transition plan to move a small number of juveniles into the regional facility to avoid expensive per-bed costs while maintaining minimal staffing to care for the county building until a sale is completed.

No final decision to sell was taken at the meeting; commissioners asked staff to pursue offers, discuss interest from the state corrections department, and explore putting proceeds in a restricted trust or reserve to finance any future expansion of regional capacity.