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the budget process with respect to the constitutional officers and how that funding is used <br />as Acash forward@ in the general fund. If the Board wishes it could be used in the future to <br />expand the core area of the Jail. The capital costs for the jail have been budgeted in the <br />optional sales tax beginning October 2004. If the Board approves going forward, we could <br />go through the competitive negotiations, pick the architect and pay those costs a year early <br />because they are not significant. But the majority of the costs for the jail were projected for <br />FY 2004/05 and FY 2005/06. <br />Commissioner Lowther was greatly impressed because the funds to build Marion <br />County=s facility did not come from their taxpayers. He agreed with Vice Chairman Ginn <br />that we need to expand our facilities now with a look to the future to make sure that what <br />we plan to build covers the growth of the county. <br />Sheriff Raymond recalled that at one time he was opposed to housing Federal <br />prisoners because the necessary safeguards were not in place when he was the Undersheriff <br />(Sheriff Dobeck=s administration). Since Sheriff Wheeler started housing Federal <br />prisoners on a contractual basis and utilizing the bed space in our jail somewhere between <br />$10-12 million has been generated by the program. He read a letter and commented on the <br />Community Assistance Program (CAP) which he thought could also help offset costs if <br />done responsibly. (Letter requested from Sheriff=s office.) <br />Gary Wheeler, 3302 631d Square, Vero Beach, recounted the previous study, the <br />opening of the current jail and the beginning of the Federal prisoner program which is now <br />bringing in about $2 million per year. This money came to the County and saved <br />taxpayers= dollars for the operation of the jail and other general funding. If we had built <br />dormitories, we could have saved even more money than that. There is no question that <br />more space is needed. He preferred the Ocala model of the two under discussion. He <br />believed there are other ways to save money by looking at what other counties have done <br />SPECIAL MEETING <br />November 18, 2003 <br />11 <br />