ANDERSON — Madison County will borrow $3.4 million for the construction of a new 911 dispatch center and community corrections facility in the 100 block of Jackson Street.
The Madison County Council on Tuesday voted to approve two five-year loans from First Merchants bank at an interest rate of 1.9 percent.
Madison County Administrator Dan Dykes said the proposal from First Merchants Bank was the lowest of three received by the county.
The county will borrow $1.8 million for the new dispatch center with five annual payments of $360,000. It will also borrow $1.6 million for a new Madison County Community Corrections Center at an annual cost of $320,000.
Currently Madison County is building new men's and women’s work release centers in the 100 block of Jackson Street, which are expected to open in October. That cost is approximately $936,000.
The county is converting the existing 8,000-square-foot building to 13,500 square feet with the addition of a second floor.
The men’s work release center would house 112 men and the women’s center could house up to 30 women. The second floor will house the Community Justice Center offices.
The two new facilities will be located in the 100 block of Jackson Street adjacent to the new men and women’s work release centers.
The Madison County Commissioners had proposed the correctional complex in Anderson earlier this year on the site that could eventually be the location for the construction of a new Madison County jail within the next decade.
The 30-day remonstrance period for the $3.4 million loans ended on Wednesday with no public opposition to the project.
The Madison County Council intends to use Public Safety County Option Income Taxes (COIT) to repay the two loans within five years.
Currently the county leases space for the men’s work release center and the minimum security facility from local attorney Max Howard.
Council member Steve Sumner said currently, the county is paying $399,600 per year to lease the minimum security facility and men’s work release center.
Sumner said the difference between the annual lease payments to Howard and the loan payments will come from an additional appropriation from the Public Safety COIT to pay the loans off in five years.
As proposed, the new dispatch center would be constructed by the end of May 2016 and the minimum security facility, which would house 150 inmates, would open in December 2016.
Sumner said he found $265,000 in the account created to construct the juvenile center at Mounds and Rangeline roads and $300,000 in the account used to construct the Madison County jail.
Those funds would be used toward the two loan payments for the dispatch center and minimum security facility.
The Public Safety COIT currently has a fund balance of $2.5 million and generates $2 million per year.
Sumner said $688,000 of the annual revenues is being used to pay the $8.5 million bond for the new county-wide radio system that is expected to be in operation by early 2016.