SKOWHEGAN – Somerset County commissioners were notified by letter this week that if the proposed $30 million jail referendum fails on Nov. 8, the county’s variance to house prisoners will be revoked.

The notification from the Maine Department of Corrections came as no surprise to Somerset County Sheriff Barry DeLong.

“In fact, I’m surprised we didn’t get this months ago,” he said Wednesday.

Four years ago, the Corrections Department provided the variance that allows the county jail to hold 55 inmates, 10 more than its capacity. If the variance is lost, DeLong estimated that the cost of boarding inmates at other jails would be well over $1 million next year – without including transportation costs.

Ralph Nichols, director of the Corrections Department’s Division of Inspections and Quality Assurance, wrote to the commissioners on Oct. 24 that the new jail would meet all state requirements.

But he also said that if the referendum fails, “our department would not be in a position to extend your variance for a fourth time.”

The referendum, which could cost each county taxpayer about $2 per $1,000 valuation – $200 a year on a $100,000 home – is not garnering a lot of interest around the county. DeLong said residents are not showing up at local presentations held on the jail.

“I doubt also if it would cost $30 million once it is put out to bid,” he said. DeLong said the jail would actually cost more to operate initially than boarding prisoners elsewhere. But over time, it would pay for itself and actually bring in revenue from other counties whose jails also are overcrowded.

“I know that if it doesn’t pass, what we spend now will be nothing compared to what will come down the road,” DeLong said.

DeLong said the county handles an average of 72 inmates a day and must board the 17 extra inmates at jails in Cumberland or York counties. The $1 million estimate for boarding does not include transportation. But with the state’s inmate population growing at 4 percent annually, even those southern jails with excess capacity will soon be filled, DeLong said.

“And then where do we go? New Hampshire? Vermont? Massachusetts?”

Complicating the issue is that a number of new jail laws will go into effect next year, he said.

“We might be able to meet 10 of the 128 laws,” DeLong said, adding that the Corrections Department will force the county to perform a major, and expensive, overhaul of the existing 100-year-old jail.

“It could take $12 [million] to $15 million to just bring that old jail into compliance.”

That could include installing a new elevator and upgrading electrical, plumbing and surveillance that would likely result in even less cell space.

“And putting money into that old jail is like putting new tires on a car without a motor,” he said.