Washington County official have moved another step closer to construction of a regional correctional facility, approving the issuance of up to $19.5 million in bonds.

The new prison will be a 500-person facility that will house 300 state prisoners and 90 city inmates. The remainder will be county inmates.

The money earned from housing state and city inmates will go to pay off the bonds for the construction of the facility.

Bond attorney Lucien Bourgeois told the board on Tuesday that the county may get more competitive bids because of the recent stimulus package, which would allow banks to bid on projects that exceed $10 million.

The board will try a different approach for getting the lowest bid for equipment and services. Supervisors voted to hire BidBridges, a Louisville, Ky.-based firm to handle some bidding for the county.