Forsyth County commissioners want to know how much design work can be accomplished on a new jail with money set aside for that purpose.

The commissioners on Thursday directed County Manger Rhonda O'Connor to review the matter with jail architects Pieper O'Brien Herr.

The county has $321,409 in its bail bond forfeiture fund, which is marked for jail construction, after the first design phase. That's just more than half the total cost of $660,000 for the second phase, design development.

The initial motion was to spend the rest of the money in the bond forfeiture fund and draw the difference from the capital fund.

Under that proposal, the latter share of money would have been repaid through a bond, provided the referendum passes in November.

Commissioners Jim Harrell, Charles Laughinghouse and David Richard opposed that plan.

"We have the remainder of the jail bond fund," Laughinghouse said. "We might as well proceed up to the amount of that money. See where that takes us, and what that gets us."

Town hall meetings have been scheduled for August to discuss the possibility of the new 480-bed facility, which is estimated to cost between $60 million to $65 million to build, according to architects Pieper O'Brien Herr.