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Scaled-down juvenile hall on ballot Bond issue pares $6 million off measure defeated in 1998 BY SUSAN JAY Jackson County voters will have a second chance to say yea or nay to a new juvenile facility in November. County commissioners voted Wednesday to put a $16.45 million bond measure on the Nov. 2 ballot. The 10-year bond would pay for a 50,400-square-foot juvenile center, including up to 40 detention beds, two courtrooms, and classrooms for treatment and prevention programs. This bond is $6.05 million less than a similar measure voters rejected in November 1998. And the proposed facility is 16,600 square feet smaller than the one on last year's ballot. "This amount shows a significant reduction" from last year's measure, Commissioner Sue Kupillas said. "It's a very reasonable cost to the voters." Last year's measure, which failed by 1 percent, was not subject to the 50 percent turnout requirement. The Nov. 2 measure will require a turnout of 50 percent of registered voters. The cost to taxpayers would be 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. The owner of a $100,000 home would pay $25 per year over the 10-year life of the bond, for a total of $250. That cost could be reduced with help from a $4 million federal grant, available to the county if the facility is built within the next few years. Alan Young, juvenile department director, said the grant specifically reimburses the county for construction of detention beds after they are built. Commissioner Jack Walker emphasized Wednesday that the federal grant money would be used to reduce the bond debt, not for more expansion. Another big difference in this bond measure, Young said, is that it concentrates on providing treatment and prevention more than detention beds. This bond would buy 20 fewer detention beds than last year's measure and would include 16 shelter beds for kids who need a place to stay but don't need to be locked up. Young encouraged voters to tour the existing facility near the South Gateway shopping center during business hours. For more information, call 774-4800. In Wednesday's meeting, Walt Fitzgerald of Sams Valley told commissioners he initially opposed a new juvenile facility. He has toured the place and talked with Young. He said he agrees the center is antiquated, but he's not convinced it needs to triple in size. "We are so crowded right now, that we're basically sitting on top of each other," Young said. `We're building a building for the next 40 years, as it relates to treatment and office space." The existing juvenile center was built in 1957 and expanded to its present 15,200 square feet in 1981. It has 20 detention beds and one room for counseling. In the past 15 years, the number of juvenile offenses has tripled in Jackson County. The center serves an estimated 2,800 to 2,900 kids a year, a number that has remained stable for the past three years, Young said. The problem, Young said, is a projected increase over the next 10 years in the number of juveniles between 12 and 14 -- the years when the highest rate of criminal offenses occur. "The volume will continue to grow as kids age into the high crime years," Young said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA