Warren County needs a new jail. We also need elected officials courageous enough to bite the economic bullet and make a decision.

Is this a bad time economically? Yes. Could better days be on the horizon? Surely. But for the decision-makers, it doesn’t seem to really make a pittance of difference.

Warren County has had more money in years past when the need for a new jail was just as warranted as it is today.

Actually accomplishing something, though, will take political courage the Warren County Board of Supervisors has not shown.

It will cost lots of money — $20 million to $30 million. As anyone who has visited a grocery store or a gas pump lately knows, everything costs money, and rarely do those costs go down. Each day that passes the cost of a new jail keeps climbing.

Those costs, necessarily, will be passed on to the taxpayer in the form of tax increases. It’s not the best news, but it’s inevitable. And even though the notion of raising taxes sends citizens into a rage, the price of getting more thugs off the streets might be worth it.

In April, a 16-month study concluded the county needed to pick a site for the new jail by August, which of course passed without a site being chosen. The economy was blamed.

Less than a month following the report, a back-and-forth ensued between county and city leaders on whether the jail needed to be in the city or the county. Two weeks after that, talk of the new jail was put aside again. The economy was blamed.

The facts are the current facility on Cherry and Grove streets is too small and too outdated for today’s needs. Grand jurors, who issue reports on the jail conditions four times a year, have been pressing the need for a new jail in every session for decades.

The likelihood of 2011 being different is slim, mostly due to the fact that it’s an election year. Tax increases for any reason in such shaky times are not palatable for today’s politicians when election cycles roll around.

It likely will be the same this year.

And when next year rolls around, when the price of materials and labor has gone up, city and county leaders will still be kicking the can — to the doorsteps of the old jail.

Bite the economic bullet. Get the ball rolling.