County Won’t Sell Bonds For Juvenile Hall Martin Hall Project Will Proceed, But With More Expensive Financing After 2-1 Vote

Martin Hall is still a go.

But Spokane County won’t risk its credit rating to borrow money for the planned regional juvenile detention center, county commissioners decided on a 2-1 vote Tuesday.

Nine Eastern Washington counties plan to turn the vacant men’s dormitory at Eastern State Hospital into a jail for young criminals.

Since Spokane County has the best credit rating in the consortium, the eight other counties asked Spokane’s commissioners to sell $6 million in bonds. They offered their counties’ future tax revenue as collateral.

The loan could have been had for about 5.5 percent interest, compared to 5.75 percent if Stevens County sells the bonds or 5.8 percent to 6 percent if the state sells them on behalf of the consortium.

“The bottom line is, if Spokane County does it, it costs less money. It costs the county less money; it costs the taxpayers less money,” said county Commissioner Phil Harris.

Plans call for 52 beds at Martin Hall, with 28 of them already claimed by the consortium counties and another 24 available for rent. Spokane County is footing the bill for 18.5 percent of the project - about $1 million - and will get five of the beds.

County Commissioner John Roskelley and other critics say the county should add 24 beds to its existing 60-bed juvenile lockup instead.

On Tuesday, Harris said he would support that project, in addition to Martin Hall, if the cost isn’t prohibitive.

Jim Potts, a Whitman County commissioner and chairman of the consortium, urged Spokane County commissioners to sell the bonds so work can begin this winter on Martin Hall.

Juvenile offenders are “thumbing their noses” at police and judges because they know rural counties don’t have any place to send them, Potts said.

Roskelley and Commissioner Steve Hasson aren’t convinced.

“I’m just not receptive to using the county’s full faith and credit to finance this thing when there’s other counties that might do it,” said Hasson.

Although Tuesday’s discussion was not designated a public hearing, it drew a covey of Spokane attorneys and judges, some of whom oppose the Martin Hall project.

Attorney Steven Eugster questioned whether the county has the authority to borrow money to loan to other counties.

“I didn’t realize that Spokane County was being designated by the Legislature as the bank for Eastern Washington,” he said.

Attorney Carl Maxey argued that Spokane shouldn’t link itself with “a bunch of counties that couldn’t build an institution, couldn’t sell a bond anyone would buy.”

Superior Court Judge Robert Austin noted that county residents rejected three bond issues for juvenile detention centers in 1992 and 1994. He questioned the wisdom of selling bonds for the same purpose now without another vote.

“Your predecessors could have voted to do a bond issue without sending it to the people,” Austin said. “They did not choose to do that.”

Whether or not the center would be built was not an issue.

“That’s already done. Signed, sealed and delivered,” said Harris, who voted with Hasson to join the consortium in February.

Roskelley voted against the project, saying he wasn’t sure it was a good deal for the county.

The center originally was expected to cost $2.5 million based on “an unprofessional person” who looked at the building and gave a rough estimate, Medical Lake Mayor Sharie Sterns told commissioners.

Since then, more accurate estimates have put the price at $5.5 million. The consortium plans to borrow another $500,000 to help pay operating costs the first year.

In a rare show of public hostility between two commissioners with vastly different views, Harris twice scolded Roskelley on Tuesday for “not reading your materials.”

Roskelley, who prides himself on working long hours, shot back that he had indeed done his homework. “When you say I don’t read the materials it really makes me angry,” he told Harris.

Although Roskelley’s opposition was expected, Harris appeared stunned when he was outvoted 2-1.

Hasson said he still supports Martin Hall despite his vote against the bond issue.

After the vote, Harris called a fiveminute recess, shook his head at Hasson and left the hearing room without speaking a word.

, DataTimes