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There is so much more to the prison move than "NIMBY" or not in my backyard. This is something that affects everyone who pays taxes in the state of Utah.
Cost --- Legislators have said time and time again that the sale of the land will basically pay for the relocation. The relocation is estimated to cost over a billion while MGT, the "consultants", appraised the value of the Draper property at $51.3 million. That's a far cry from a billion. This isn't an all or nothing issue. There are buildings at the prison that something need to be repaired HOWEVER, MGT estimates that we will need to spend $238.9 million over the next 20 years to repair the prison. Again, that's a far cry from a billion.
running through the property however the new prison has not yet been
designed and it's completely possible to design it around the lines. We've been told that the current prison takes up just more than half of the land. An aerial photo shows that to be false. Representative Fred Cox has put together a basic plan for rebuilding which can be seen here. The Prisoners --- Legislators and MGT are also claiming that we will need to add an additional 3000 beds by 2033. While some expansion MAY be required since not all inmates are released we should focus more on areas of reform. The prisoners need to be close to volunteers and family more than they need a shiny new hotel to live in. The current location draws from the largest geographical area and population base as it sits near the border of both Salt Lake and Utah Counties. Moving the prison to an outlying area does a huge disservice to those members of our society who are most in need of our help. Taxes --- Legislators claim that the revenue generated from developing the Draper location will pay for the bonds required to relocate the prison and that taxes won't need raised. The money will be taken from the general fund (which also helps pay for some education) as well as bonded for. The taxpayers will be paying for the bond until the site becomes "profitable". For starters, the prison will need to be built and the prisoners moved before the state can even begin doing anything with the land. According to statements made in the media, that will take approximately 5 years. After the prison is moved and millions are spent on demolition and site prep, the state will need to court businesses to bring in. Standard practice is to offer tax incentives to big businesses so not only are the taxpayers footing the bill during the construction phase, but we will continue to pay as the new developed area won't be paying full taxes for a certain amount of time. This claim that legislators are clinging to also doesn't take into account that the property won't be developed overnight. That too will take time. Economic Output --- "They just sound exorbitant to me," Nelson said. "They're big numbers. If it was that easy to produce 10 percent of our state budget from a 700-acre parcel in Salt Lake County, we would have done that a long time ago." Rep. Merrill Nelson via KSL. MGT's 2014 report states that the Draper site would be worth $1.8 billion in economic output annually. That number is absurdly high! K.I.I.D. fully supports Rep. Nelson in calling for an audit of the numbers surrounding this move. If the proponents of the prison move are secure with MGT's findings, they shouldn't mind. Geothermal Aquifer --- Did you know that there is a geothermal aquifer at the Draper site that saves the prison over $700,000 annually on their utility bills?! You can read about it here. - Deseret News 
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Announcements:
**Next PRC meeting is Thursday July 16, 2015 at 9:00 am Utah State Capitol - House Building Room 30 **Call or email Governor Herbert and let him know that you want the prison to remain in Draper. He started this process and he can end it. Governor Herbert [email protected] 801-538-1000 Deputy Chief of Staff, Michael Mower [email protected] 801-538-1924 Want to know how much the consultants are being paid? Here are the documents we got in response to our GRAMA request. *Hint* Bob Nardi makes over $300 an hour.
Did you know that Draper hasn't received the same evaluation as the rest of the sites? When ranked against the same criteria being applied to the potential new sites, Draper ranks the highest with 97 points.
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