MERCER COUNTY Official thinks grants will cover new jail

One county commissioner isn't sure the projection will hold up.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
MERCER, Pa. -- Mercer County is running short of money to finish the new jail, but a county official says state grants should cover the projected shortfall.
The county borrowed $34 million through a 2001 bond issue to build a jail and renovate the courthouse, among other things.
There is about $6.4 million left in that bond issue, and the last estimate on the cost of finishing the jail is $7.1 million, said John Logan, county fiscal director.
The county already has put out about $13.5 million toward construction costs.
The bond fund is about $700,000 short, but some pending state grant funds should cover that difference, he told the Mercer County Prison Board earlier this week.
Plans review
County Commissioner Brian Beader isn't sure that projection will hold, however, and said he wants to review the matter with Logan.
Beader has estimated in the past the county will fall several million dollars short by the time the jail is finished.
He has said the county used $3.1 million of the bond issue to refinance an earlier debt, spent $12.7 million on the courthouse project, an additional $900,000 on an electronic voting machine system, and $600,000 to move two district justice offices.
The county was able to earn $1 million in interest by investing the bond money before it was spent, and that would increase the pool of funds, but the bottom line is still short, he said.
Logan, who was only recently hired by the county, said he hasn't had an opportunity to review all of the spending that came out of the bond issue.
Grant applications
Logan said the county has about $1.3 million in grant applications now being considered by the state with the biggest chunk of that money to cover the expense of the electronic voting system.
The grants fall under the federal Help America Vote Act, which channels money through the states, and it appears Mercer County's requests will be approved, he said.
That money will go back into the bond fund and should provide enough to complete the jail construction, he said.
The jail project has a total cost estimate of $20.7 million, Logan said.
The county should be able to meet that expense, though it may have to borrow some funds through a short-term loan should the final jail bills come in before the state grants are approved, he said.
gwin@vindy.com