SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- New lawmakers had many questions about the proposed new men's prison during Thursday's budget presentation by the Department of Corrections at the legislature's Joint Committee on Appropriations meetings. Those new lawmakers are committee members. DOC Secretary Kellie Wasko answered them but didn't have time to respond to all of the questions from the people who testified. Wasko agreed with committee co-chair Republican Rep. Mike Derby to respond to the remaining questions via email. The planned men's prison is in Lincoln County between Harrisburg and Canton. It will have capacity for about 1,500 offenders. It would replace the 144-year-old facility called the Hill in Sioux Falls. Thursday's committee meeting included an update on the prison and also a budget request presentation from the DOC. House Bill 1025 is the bill that would authorize the final funding and construction of the men's prison. The bill will first go to the House State Affairs committee as it is a policy committee, Derby said. "We've directed our committee chairs to send anything that impacts the budget to appropriations with recommendations," Derby said. "We are asking them not to kill bills but to send bills with due pass, do not pass no recommendation or they can amendment." The House State Affairs actions send a signal back to the House and Senate appropriations committee and the joint appropriations committee on the policy side of it, Derby said. New lawmaker Republican Sen. Mykala Voita from Bonesteel said she was having trouble with why the new women's prison under construction in Rapid City cost much less than the proposed new men's prison, even if the cost per inmate is compared. The women's prison has a budget of $87.1 million while the guaranteed maximum price of the men's prison is $825 million. UPDATE: No explosives found at prison scene "It's not an apples-to-apples comparison," Wasko said. The facility in Rapid City is a 300-bed minimum security prison, Wasko said. Much of the facility is dormitory-style, Wasko said. The planned men's prison is multiple-class facility with seven pods, one of which will be for secured custody or what is considered maximum custody, Wasko said. The new facility would have a capacity of about 1,500 offenders most of which would be medium security, which costs more to construct than a minimum security facility. What money will be needed to upgrade existing facilities while a new prison is being built, was one question from new lawmaker Republican Rep. Terri Jorgenson of Rapid City. "We don't plan on any further renovations...," Wasko said. The DOC is renovating the plumbing at Yankton and has been told that will make it sustainable for 20 more years. It doesn't make fiscal sense to renovate the outdated main prison, the Hill, at Sioux Falls, Wasko said. "Any renovations at the Hill in Sioux Falls will not garner us any additional bed space we need," Wasko said. Committee member Republican Sen. Larry Zickmund of Sioux Falls said Wasko is exactly correct. It doesn't make sense to renovate facilities so badly in need of repair, and as Wasko said, the DOC will make the facilities work while a new facility is under construction, he said. New lawmaker Republican Sen. Glen Vilhauer of Watertown asked how much experience the contractor/consultants working on the project had. DOC finance officer Brittni Skipper said J.E. Dunn had extensive experience with prison projects. Zickman said Dunn and Henry Carlson both had experience. Republican Rep. Taffy Howard of Rapid City, who is returning to the Legislature this year, and new lawmaker Democrat Rep. Erik Muckey of Sioux Falls had questions or comments about the property tax values of property near the new men's prison. Howard said property values near the new prison will decline. Does the state or DOC do anything to compensate those property owners, she asked. Muckey followed up with a comment that he lives closest to the existing prison and the DOC has been good neighbors, but he too said there is value in discussing property values. "I don't know the validity of that," Wasko said prisons reducing nearby property values. The DOC does not deal with that topic, she said. It's the DOC's job to be the best possible neighbor it can be, Wasko said.