County jail remodel gets delayed as board struggles to agree on funding source

EAU CLAIRE — The remodeling of the county jail got delayed, likely until next year, due to the County Board failing to get enough ‘yes’ votes Tuesday night to approve of loans, otherwise known as bonding, as a funding source for the project.

“This goes back to that 2024 budget being passed with (the ambiguous language of) ‘bonding or other available revenue source’,” said Eau Claire County’s Finance Director Jason Szymanski. “We had an indeterminate funding source for our projects.”

For the project to begin this year, the board would have needed to approve the bonding Tuesday evening, but some on the board still felt there were other funds the county could utilize.

“Some of the board members believe that we should bond for (the jail remodel), and other board members believe that we should pay for it with our reserves — what’s called fund balance,” said Szymanski.

He explained how the county’s income comes in waves.

“Having a healthy fund balance ensures that you have enough cash to get you through those peaks and valleys of money,” he said. “And, yes, another reason for a fund balance is that it’s kind of your reserve in case something were to happen in the county, (like a) natural disaster.”

He said that the federal government would reimburse the county eventually, but that without the fund balance, it would cause delays in the county’s ability to respond.

County Board Representative Dane Zook said, “We don’t have to go out and borrow $3 million to do this jail project. We have money in the bank that we can use for these projects. That’s $3 million will end up costing us closer to $4 million, and it has to come out of (taxpayers’) pockets.”

Zook has been on the board since 2020 and is on the Finance Committee. He said that Szymanski “gave us a report the other night and included an estimate of sales tax coming in and an estimate of unused budget dollars coming in, and he also estimated the overage that the DHS was going to have for the year. So his estimate, as of September 24, showed the ending balance being like $12.7 million.”

County board supervisor Robin Leary voted ‘yes’ for the bonding and said she was very disappointed that those who voted ‘no’ were unwilling to compromise.

“What’s unfortunate is there are individuals on the board that are making mountains out of molehills in the sense of financing,” she said. “Apparently, they are so against (bonding) that they are looking past the needs of the county.”

She stressed that the county jail remodel would ultimately be an investment that would save the county money and that it is a safety issue.

“It sounds like we’re doing curtains and painting, but that’s not it at all,” she said. “It’s a functional redesign of an area that will be more helpful to the jail staff and save the county money, so it’s one of those expensive things that you have to invest in to save some money.”

Sheriff Dave Riewestahl said, “Ultimately we’re adding more individual cells into our booking area. It would add 13 more individual cells. Currently, there are 22.”

Riewestahl explained that currently there are more people being arrested than they have room for.

“What we have to do (currently) is transfer people from the booking area into our special needs housing area,” he said.

He added that this reduces the number of cells used for those having longer stays who might have special needs for things like a CPAP machine or a nebulizer.

The project was approved by the board last year, and Zook stressed that he very much supports it.

“Somebody can tell you it’s because I don’t want (the jail remodel), but it’s not true,” he said. “We all want the renovation.”

Zook said that he’s been helping and succeeding in reducing the county’s overall debt.

“So three times in a row, borrow resolutions have been denied. Tuesday night’s is the fourth one that’s been denied,” he said. “We have not cut any programs. We have not lost any employees. Every operation is still moving right along, and yet, from two years ago, our debt today, instead of what would have been $115 million is now $72 million.”

Leary said, “It’s very important that we manage our money for the county and have funds available for emergencies and other risks. We never know what’s going to happen. I suppose we could spend all the money in the fund balance, but then we would be opening ourselves up to the risk of potential layoffs of staff and other things that just simply wouldn’t get the job done and would leave our citizens vulnerable.”

Riewestahl said that he is hopeful the county board will eventually fund the project in 2025.

“It’s a small delay,” he said. “But we’re hopeful that the 2025 budget capital projects will get approved.”

Nine County Board Supervisors voted ‘no’ for bonding while 19 voted ‘yes’.