SKOWHEGAN – When the Somerset County Jail Committee learned this week that it would cost as much to build a new jail as it would to renovate and add on to the current facility, they decided to step back and look at all their options.

The current jail was obsolete in the 1950s and has been cited repeatedly by the state for overcrowding and inefficiencies. It was granted a two-year variance by the state Department of Corrections to allow commissioners time to correct the problems.

Chairman Dale Watson said that he would be visiting parcels of land around Skowhegan this week with Commissioner Zane Libby and Jail Administrator Stephen Giggey in hopes a new site could be located.

“My concern is that we won’t find anything that has water and sewer services,” said Watson, who added that the county would need 10 to 15 acres for a new facility.

Any new location would add the costs of land purchase and development to the projected $15 million cost, said Watson.

When most committee members learned that renovation and building would cost virtually the same, they were surprised, said Watson. “We had really thought that renovating the jail was going to be substantially cheaper,” he said.

“I’m really concerned about the burden on the taxpayers,” he said, “especially Skowhegan taxpayers who pay about 29 percent, the largest percentage, of the county tax. Based on an average home of $70,000, a new jail would add $23 a year to each tax bill. That may not sound like a lot, but we are already paying for a new school, and it is estimated that running a new jail will cost $3 million a year. That will all add up.”

Watson said, “Times are not good. I’m worried about our existing businesses, that they cannot sustain a larger tax burden.”

The decision to look at alternative sites was made Wednesday, said Watson, after the New York architectural firm hired by the search committee presented a report with two options: renovate the current jail with a four-story addition; or build a new, single-floor facility on a separate site.

Watson said construction and operating costs were about equal for both options. The current jail cannot be used without $2 million in renovations and even then will not be licensed for more than 45 inmates, necessitating an addition.

With the average inmate population usually 90, boarding out prisoners to other county facilities is too expensive an option. Boarding would cost $110 per day, per inmate.

Watson said he, Libby and Giggey have two weeks to find an alternative location. The committee will then make a decision about a new site or renovating the existing facility. He said there is still time to complete the study and have a proposal on the ballot for a fall referendum.

A study conducted by the county commissioners in 2000 revealed that the current facility had serious health and safety issues, including cracks in the walls, open sewage flowing in the basement, a damaged fence, lack of cells and restrooms for handicapped people, and an inadequate fire alarm system.

Some of those deficiencies have been corrected. However, the jail was last renovated in 1984 and originally was estimated to have a life expectancy that expired in 1950.

Members of the Somerset County Budget Committee have been pushing for an assessment and building plan for more than six years.

Should a new location and new construction be the plan chosen, Sheriff Barry DeLong has offered two options for the current jail.

“We can either tear it down and create parking for the Superior Court, which has been a constant problem, or we could renovate it for a juvenile holding facility. There is such a need in central Maine that we could fill it the first day it opened,” he told the commissioners during jail discussions last year. “This could be a moneymaker for the county.”

DeLong said such a facility could house juveniles for the other central Maine counties that don’t want to make the expensive trip to either Charleston or South Windham, sites of the only two juvenile holding centers in the state.

“The other counties will happily haul them here,” he said. “We could house 45 to 50 teenagers at $125 a day.”