Our opinion
Last week’s District 3 county commission forum – co-sponsored by The Northeast Georgian, Farm Bureau and 107.7 The Breeze – gave residents a chance to hear out the three candidates for what could prove to be an important seat over the next four years.
The candidates expressed their views on a number of topics, including the potential for economic growth, but they missed some chances to address other questions that were raised.
In addition to all three failing to address how they would protect agriculture in the future – though they agreed it was important – the candidates did not present their vision for what Habersham County would do about its detention center, which is aging and out of compliance.
They said a lot of familiar things that we have heard before, such as “If we don’t find a way to build a jail, a way is going to be picked for us,” to paraphrase a statement that many elected officials have made over the last few years.
But none presented how they would actually fund a new jail, which will likely now cost in excess of $40 million.
Incumbent Commissioner Jimmy Tench said the jail was in the hands of the sheriff when asked about how the county commission would deal with the situation. But we are talking about building one, not administering it.
Challengers Jimmy Dean and Jason M. Smith also agreed that something had to be done, but they did not specify as to what that would be.
They are not alone, though, as no one from the last two incarnations of the county commission has come forward with a plan to fund a jail since the bond measure failed in 2019. That election had only 14.7 percent of registered voters participate, and the bond was only voted down by 52 percent of that extremely low turnout.
In a county of 48,000-plus people, 1,987 people decided we did not want a bond to build the jail.
After that, the county commissioners threw their hands up and said they were out of ideas.
No one running for office wants to say they want to raise taxes, especially since everyone’s taxes just went up with the skyrocketing home values we have seen. Habersham County has prided itself on being a place where taxes stay low compared to the rest of Georgia, which is a brilliant thing if you can sustain it.
But our jail situation is not going to go away, and our budget is way too stretched to find any way to pay for a new facility. Even though the county has received half of around $8 million from the American Rescue Plan and has the other half coming, every project on the books is over budget, including the new public safety radio system, which will likely cost millions more than originally projected.
It is not pleasant, but we will have to eventually stop kicking that can before it becomes the size of a silo.