Renovations Wrapping Up at Smith County Jail

TYLER — The Smith County Jail is wrapping up its renovations this fall. KETK reports the construction’s been carried out in two phases. According to County Commissioner Jeff Warr, the first phase was completed under budget. Any extra money is going towards fixing up the main housing area, as well as upgrading security. The $35-million expansion was $30 million less than the closest proposal. This makes spending tight, and although commissioners don’t expect to go over budget, they say it’s going to be a close one. Warr says, “We’re still in budget and operating as leanly as we can, and it gave us the opportunity to upgrade the system, (including) additional security and some things like that since we had the additional money.” According to Warr, there should be no further financial burden on taxpayers.