HUNTSVILLE -- Madison County bought 19.2 acres of land in Huntsville on Friday for a new jail, said Larry Garrett, the county judge.
He said the land was purchased from Kay Coger for $700,000. The property is across U.S. 412B from Huntsville's McDonald's restaurant, on the east side of town.
Garrett said the county had the money set aside years ago for the jail land purchase.
In 2014, the state's 4th District Criminal Detention Facilities Review Committee found that the Madison County jail -- which was built in the early 1980s to accommodate eight beds -- didn't comply with state standards, so it was converted to a 24-hour holding facility.
From 2015 until the end of 2021, Madison County's longer-term detainees were held in the Washington County jail -- 30 miles to the west in Fayetteville. But with that jail overcrowded, Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder ended the agreement.
Since then, Madison County has been housing its detainees at various jails around the state that have room -- including the Lafayette County jail in Lewisville, about 300 miles to the south.
On three previous occasions, Madison County asked voters to approve a sales tax to help fund construction of a new jail or at least an addition to the existing jail. The tax proposals were rejected all three times.
Then, on Nov. 8, voters approved a 0.5% sales tax for a maximum $16.9 million bond issue to finance construction of a new jail and sheriff's office. But the voters rejected a perpetual 1.25% sales tax to pay for maintenance and operation of the facility.
The Madison County Quorum Court decided in December to move ahead with the jail construction, passing a resolution to issue bonds and collect the sales tax for construction.
Garrett said the county will begin collecting the sales tax on April 1.
He doesn't know when construction will begin. Garrett said the plan is to have the jail open and operating by the summer of 2025.
Frank Weaver, the previous county judge, said it would cost about $16 million to build a 148-bed jail. He said a 0.5% sales tax would bring in about $1.1 million per year based on current collection rates.
SouthBuild Team of Collierville, Tenn., has been consulting with Madison County on the proposed jail project.
Garrett said a working session is planned for Feb. 16 that will include SouthBuild along with dispatchers and other employees of the sheriff's office.
Garrett said he doesn't know when the county will put another tax before the voters to pay for maintenance and operation of the jail.
"That's totally up to the Quorum Court," he said. "We've not even discussed it yet as far as when we might re-approach that. ... I'm comfortable with the idea that we're not needing to operate it right now."
But training 24 to 28 jail employees could take up to a year, and that needs to be done before the jail opens, said Garrett.
"Sometime in 2024 we need to have a tax in place," he said.