ULSTER COUNTY Legislator Michael Stock has come up with an idea that could help Dutchess County solve its jail overcrowding problem and be a money-maker for Ulster County.
Stock, R-Woodstock, has proposed Ulster County lease its soon-to-be vacated county jail in Kingston to Dutchess County, which is suffering from severe overcrowding and the loss of state variances.
"This thought came to me a week or so ago," said Stock, the Ulster County Legislature's majority leader and chairman of the body's Law Enforcement Center Project Committee. "I spoke to our sheriff (Richard Bockelmann) and asked him to speak to Dutchess County to see if they would be interested."
Bockelmann said he has not yet broached the subject with Dutchess County Sheriff Adrian "Butch" Anderson.
Dutchess County Legislature Chairman Bradford Kendall said he is willing to discuss the proposals with Ulster County.
"I'd consider anything that saves Dutchess County taxpayers money, but it's got to make sense not just in the short run but in the long run, fiscally," said Kendall, R-Dover.
Stock said by leasing out the old facility, Ulster could help Dutchess reduce its costs and generate revenue to offset some of the cost of building the new Ulster County Jail.
"It can generate income for next year, and for future years, till they resolve their problem. Ulster County will generate revenue, while Dutchess will be able to address their overcrowding problem and it gives us a use for the facility."
Proposals by the Dutchess County Legislature's Democrats to work with Ulster to develop a plan to tap into Ulster's excess jail space have been rejected by Dutchess Republicans.
For 16 years, the state Commission of Correction issued variances to Dutchess County, allowing it to house 32 prisoners more than the county's 286-bed facility can hold.
In April, the commission revoked those variances after the county failed to develop plans to expand the jail.
Since then, the county has been forced to house inmates in other county jails, in some instances, more than 70 inmates a day. Through an agreement with Orange and Putnam counties, Dutchess County pays $100 a day to board the prisoners in those facilities, plus the cost of transporting them to and from the facilities.
Ulster County hopes to open its new 402-bed jail by the end of the year, abandoning its existing 156-bed facility on Golden Hill. Construction costs for the new Ulster County Law Enforcement Center have skyrocketed, with the current budget of $84.4 million about 17.5 percent over the initial budget of $71.8 million.