Amador County – Amador County Sheriff Martin Ryan and General Services Director John Hopkins last week asked the Ione City Council to consider adopting the county’s new nexus-based development impact fees to be collected for building a new county jail.

The Council directed staff to work with the county toward setting up a Joint Power Authority agreement toward jail impact fees. Ione City Manager Jeff Butzlaff said Friday that the city already has a jail fee nexus study done 2-3 years ago but not finalized by Council, and there are certain legal things you have to do to demonstrate impacts. He said “the nexus study provided by the county is a good starting point.”

Butzlaff said the Council directed City Planner Christopher Jordan to look at nexus studies, and getting some money for the city and some for the county.

Vice Mayor Daniel Epperson asked about Ione’s inmate count, and whether the county has seen an increase due to AB109, which reorganized inmate custody from state prisons to county jails. Ryan said 131 bookings last year came from Ione, and AB109 is a growing problem. Estimates say 57 of his 76 beds would be taken by new inmates.

Ryan said there has been a 23-year sentence in California, due to sentencing law, and counties “also inherit health care issues that caused the state of California to be sued in the first place.”

Mayor Ron Smylie asked which County Facilities Fees were in place. Hopkins said the fee used to be $7,143 per single family residence. In October they did an update because the “nexus study is a living document.” They found some mathematical errors, and it projected future Amador County population to 2010, at 40,000 people. The actual population was 38,091 in 2010. The new fee is $1,849 per single family home, after a 73 percent drop in fees last October.

Castle Oaks Golf Professional Dominica Atlan urged the Council to not approve the jail fees. He said a jail fee would add to a list of others totaling “$47,000 on top of a house selling for $150,000 dollars.” He said “how about criminals pay for the jail” with seizure of assets, a practice already done with drug arrests.

In public comment, Jack Brotherton said they might have Jordan look at updating the city’s own nexus data to reflect a drop in new construction. Jim Nevin asked if fees are paid, is there any assurance it goes to the jail. Hopkins said by law it has to go to the jail.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.