Land values and economic trends will be factors Warren County officials will consider when funding a new jail, District 4 Supervisor Bill Lauderdale said Wednesday.

Addressing the Vicksburg Lions Club, Lauderdale pointed to this year’s property tax income as critical in how he votes on next year’s budget. While affirming his support for a new jail and a study by a Colorado-based consulting firm, the five-term supervisor left the door open for adjusting next year’s budget for new jail spending because of slowed property values in 2008.

“After the numbers come in, then we’ll know what kind of shape we’re going to be in,” Lauderdale said.

Limited growth from tax rolls drove the county’s decision to raise taxes by 2.79 mills at the start of the fiscal year, translating into a $28 increase for every $100,000 in assessed value on tax bills issued in January. Rolls grew by just half a percent after five straight years of about 3 percent growth.

Results of the study by Voorhis/Robertson Justice Service are expected in draft form by year’s end. It will detail size, location and features for a new jail, but will not suggest financing methods. So far, supervisors have not ruled out a bond issue to be paid off over 10 years or more.

The oldest part of the jail on Cherry and Grove streets was built in 1907 and a large annex opened 30 years ago and has been expanded since. Its 128 beds are full nearly all the time and has prompted the housing of city inmates in other counties, mostly Issaquena but occasionally as far as Leake and Adams.

In response to a question about the county-owned U.S. 80 Bridge across the Mississippi River, Lauderdale said talks that had ramped up last spring between supervisors and the bridge commission on ways to maximize its usefulness, either by suit or by sale, have died down due to the recession’s effect on the rail industry.

Four closed sessions took place in 2008 between supervisors and commissioners, with no decision one way or another on seeking legal action against Kansas City Southern Railway for a higher per-car toll or selling the 78-year-old structure outright. 

“There’s always been some thought (for a sale),” Lauderdale said. “If we could get a decent price for the bridge, then we could get something done. If we had to build a $30 million jail and if we could get it paid for by doing that — that’s always been back there as one of the options.”

A deal with the railroad to purchase the bridge from the county for $5.5 million in 1997 fell through due to public pressure. The bridge was closed to vehicular traffic a year later. Two attempts at establishing a pedestrian park and bicycle path using federal highway money have failed since then, the second of which in 2006 prompted KCS to threaten legal action. The ongoing conflict with KCS is the lack of a written agreement that has the county billing at a higher per-car toll than the rail company is paying.

Lauderdale, 61, was re-elected to represent southeast Warren County in 2007 after losing a previous bid for a fifth term to Carl Flanders in 2003. He was first elected in 1987 and served 16 years.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com