Morgan County Commission Chairman Ray Long said the $11 million expansion to the Morgan County Jail will be worth the cost.

“The new jail addition is a good deal from the original jail construction and should last for a long time,” Long said at last Thursday’s county commission meeting.

The commission voted unanimously to allow Long to go back to the bond market to get numbers that will give the commission the information needed for borrowing an additional $3 million to complete the new jail addition.

When plans were originally developed the cost was thought to be run approximately $7 to $9.5 million. However, the total number of beds has now increased from the original 315 to 450, total to be added in the new addition with an estimated cost of $11 million when completed.

The county commission has already borrowed $5 million earlier for this project. However, with the addition of more beds and bids higher than anticipated, the additional borrowing became necessary.

The City of Decatur will also be contributing $2 million towards the jail addition. Once completed, all prisoners will be held in the Morgan County Jail from all towns and cities within Morgan County.

Long told the commission members that the addition will be built for less than half of the cost of the original jail, which was between $23 and $24 million for the same number of beds.

The commission will pull the amount over the bond issues and Decatur’s contribution towards the jail addition, from county reserves. The city of Decatur will close its jail after the new addition is competed and house their prisoners in the county jail.

District One Commissioner Jeff Clark said “it makes sense to borrow instead of using more reserves since borrowing is so cheap.” He also mentioned that he hoped the county did not need all of the 450 beds anytime soon. The new addition will house minimum-security offenders.

Commissioner Don Stisher from District 3 also felt that borrowing the additional $3 million for the jail addition was a good financial move for the city.

The addition is currently under construction, and the completion time is expected to be around one year.