A project to double the current capacity of the Greene County jail got one step further Monday as commissioners approved a preliminary budget of $150 million for the project.

The tentative numbers, which are subject to change as a final design and construction estimates are finalized, call for an estimated capacity of 1,254 inmates — nearly double the 601 beds in the current jail facility and 108 more living in trailers parked next door.

Initial project estimates gave the county around $60 million to use for construction costs, potentially seriously restricting how big the new facility could be.

But a team of experts, called the "jail advance team," found a supervision model that would cut down on staffing costs more than $90 million over 20 years, said county budget officer Jeff Scott.

The answer is called "indirect supervision," Sheriff Jim Arnott explained in an interview.

Currently, inmates are supervised directly by deputies who roam the so-called "pods," or clusters of cells, on the ground.

The other method, indirect supervision, consists of one deputy in an elevated position using cameras and his or her eyes to survey multiple pods, Arnott said.

Others are reading:Man who molested 11-year-old girl in Greene County given probation

Time Lapse:Building of the trailer jail

"We've kind of mixed the two styles of management (in this proposal)," he said. "There's positives and negatives of both, but from a cost-saving perspective, the indirect is little more expensive to build but a lot less expensive to manage."

He said shifts on indirect supervision can also help reduce burnout in difficult detention positions that see relatively high rates of turnover.

Commissioners said the staff savings will allow them to make more space for the growing numbers of people being charged with crimes and lags in the court system.

Currently, dozens of inmates are shipped to counties throughout the state each week, costing the county a significant amount for transportation and daily housing rates.

On Monday, 938 people had been booked into the jail.

"It seems like we're setting a new record every day," Arnott said. "It's a very high count right now."

Part of that problem partially stems from lags in the court system, Presiding Commissioner Bob Dixon noted.

In this year's state budget, Greene County was granted a new circuit judge to handle felony cases and civil matters for the first time since 1976, which Dixon said would do a lot to help move people along by giving more opportunities for judges to see defendants.

But there are other clogging points, too.

Trending:Teen, now charged as adult, faces life in prison after reported shooting

More:Greene County jail expansion likely to move off campus as plans become more concrete

Many of the people stuck in the Greene County jail unable to pay cash bail amounts are too poor to afford their own attorneys, so the Constitution requires they receive the help of a public defender.

But the Missouri Public Defender's office has suffered from a lack of funding for years, and studies show there aren't enough public attorneys to go around.

In Greene County, those low staffing numbers cause indigent defendants to be transferred to a sometimes weeks-long waiting list for counsel, often keeping them in jail until their case moves forward.

The commission has floated proposals to help pay for contract attorneys itself or add positions to assist with drug offenders, but it's too early to tell whether they will come to pass.

Either way, Dixon said he was personally committed to advocating for systemic solutions to stem the tide of people flowing into the county jail.

"To put it in an analogy, if we have a situation where a sink is overflowing, we may need a bigger sink, but a bigger sink is not the problem," he said. "We've got to address the flow through the entire system."

A "soft" total available project budget submitted to the commission Friday was $130 million, though that could change. The final project budgets will likely take full form once a final building design is selected and all contractors submit detailed budgets, but some cuts will likely have to be made.

And the number of beds could increase or decrease depending on budget and availability. Commissioners said they will consider approving some dormitory-style, more open plans to increase the bed count without the cost of building new pods with more expensive precast cells.

Overall, commissioners were optimistic the whole thing would come together.

"When this initially came about, I was very concerned about the budget," Commissioner John Russell said. "But after talking to several people ... I realize we’re using our taxpayer dollars in a much more efficient manner, and so it certainly makes sense that we move forward with increasing the budget."