Greg Guerrettaz, financial advisor for Monroe County, addresses jail costs at the June 6th, 2025, meeting of the Long-Term Finance Committee. (Courtesy, Microsoft Teams)
Construction of the new Monroe County Jail may be delayed due to a new financing limit set by Senate Bill 1.
Read more: Local communities bracing for lost property tax revenue
According to the bill, local governments have a three-year “cooling off period” in which they cannot bond or loan more than 25 percent of their total local income tax revenues for any debt issued after May 2025.
Greg Guerrettaz, president of Financial Solutions Group, works as a financial advisor to Monroe County. He said Friday the jail project’s current cost estimate is $225 million. An annual bond amount of $17.9 million would be required to pay for it, Guerrettaz said.
That number exceeds the state’s new bond limit.
Monroe County’s local income tax revenue is $40 million.
“You cannot use more than 25 percent of that $40 million for any debt, right now, in 2025, 2026, and 2027,” Guerrettaz said.
Under Senate Bill 1, the county would only be able to contribute an annual bond of about $10 million to the jail project.
Guerrettaz said there are two solutions on the table, both of which include changes in next year’s legislative session.
One would be to ask for a special local income tax to pay for the $17.9 million annual bond. Another option, which Guerrettaz recently discussed with Rep. Jeff Thompson (R-Lizton), who sponsored Senate Bill 1, would be changing the current law. That change would remove a 25 percent bond limit on a county that has an “agreed order.”
Monroe County has an “agreed order” in the form of a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued in 2009 due to jail overcrowding issues. That settlement required Monroe County to build a new jail.
Until any changes are made at the state level, the new county jail project is under a financial pause.
Jeff Cockerill, attorney for Monroe County, clarified to WFIU/WTIU News that design work can still move forward. But if a change isn’t made in the legislature, the project may have to be reconsidered.
Related: Monroe County Jail project moves to next design phase
Cockerill said Friday if the legislature makes one of the proposed changes to the law, groundbreaking may be delayed about one to two months. Currently, groundbreaking on the new jail site is scheduled for June 2026.
