The Monroe County Council has indefinitely tabled a motion to de-appropriate more than $10 million in local income tax bonds meant to go toward a new county jail.
Members unanimously chose to do so at a Tuesday meeting after deciding they did not have enough information to vote on it.
The motion was meant to signal the council’s displeasure with the Monroe County Commissioners over a recent disagreement over the jail project.
Last month, the commissioners announced the council and sheriff must decide the new jail’s bed count. Councilors said they understood the commissioners would do so.
Read more: Jail consultant: ‘Need to know very soon’ on construction budget
Council members have complained they have not been able to get direct updates from county departments on project consultants the commissioners have hired, but should be able to, if they’re to decide a bed count.
Council member Kate Wiltz suggested the motion. She said she first wants to better understand the implications of de-appropriating the funds.
“I certainly don’t want to mess up county business,” Wiltz said. “I’m not trying to stonewall; I’m trying to better understand.”
She said most, if not all the money was part of a bond anticipatory note which has been paid off. She wants to know what that means for the funds, and whether it’s all still appropriated.
Read more: Consultant recommends 0.2 percent local income tax for new county jail
Wiltz added the council hasn’t been able to get all those answers because of a recent cyberattack on county servers which shut down government offices for a full week.
The bonds, which the council appropriated in 2022, have gone toward environmental and geotechnical testing at all the sites that have been considered for a jail so far, according to Wiltz.
A recent feasibility study recommends a new jail should have 450 to 500 beds. The county council, commissioners and representatives of the sheriff’s office are scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. Thursday to discuss how exactly a bed count could be determined.
It’s unclear when the council could re-introduce the motion.
