Even though Baltimore County has spent millions of dollars to begin expansion of its main jail in Towson, one candidate for county executive vows to halt construction if elected, and the other said he wouldn't necessarily finish the job.

Both candidates in the executive race are appealing to opponents of the $73 million addition to the Towson jail, which County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, now a candidate for the 2nd Congressional District seat, abruptly announced in July 2000, to widespread scorn.

If elected, said Douglas B. Riley, the Republican running for county executive, he would stop the project.

"It makes more sense to me to get it properly sited now than to continue with Dutch's folly," said Riley, who added that he would look to build a jail in conjunction with counties in Western Maryland.

Riley's opponent, Democrat James T. Smith Jr., said he would seek community input before the county proceeded with the second phase of the jail expansion, scheduled to begin in 2010, but wouldn't stop the first phase of construction.

"Millions of dollars have already been expended," Smith said. "I find it somewhat reckless and irresponsible, considering the size of that bill, [to] tell the taxpayers of Baltimore County that we are just going to write it off."

By the time the next county executive is sworn in, workers will have poured the foundation for the addition to the jail on Kenilworth Drive, where the first phase of construction Smith referred to would add 784 beds to the 778 existing ones.

Officials said the county would have paid out $11 million by then and signed $33 million in contracts.

Elise Armacost, a county spokeswoman, said it would cost the next county executive $14 million to cancel the project. That figure includes money already spent and the estimated cost of breaching contracts.

Several expansion opponents say it's too late to stop the project, and one, Nancy Mazzilli, accuses Riley of playing politics.

"Anyone who says they can make a change with the jail is fooling us," she said. "It's a false promise."

Other opponents say it's never too late to halt the expansion, which they argue would bring more noise, traffic and trash to their neighborhood.

"The long-term effects of this facility on Towson will easily offset the loss of money right now," said Don Wright, who was president of the West Towson Neighborhood Association when the expansion was announced.

A number of jail opponents said they will vote for Riley because of his position.

"I don't know that he could" halt the project, said Nancy Harter, who lives less than a mile from the jail. "I just want a leader who at least is going to try."

The need for more beds for county inmates was well known long before the expansion was unveiled.

The Kenilworth Drive jail had become crowded, and female inmates were being held in another facility, on nearby Bosley Avenue, that is old and dilapidated.

Promising to double the size of the Kenilworth Drive jail, the expansion offered a solution to the crowding and better conditions for the female inmates.

The Ruppersberger administration quietly secured the project before opponents could derail it. And despite subsequent community opposition, the expansion has proceeded.

Smith said the cost of a cancellation is reason enough to continue with the first phase of expansion.

Smith derided Riley's pledge to stop the project as "vote grabbing."

"He's telling people that that's what he can do when he knows he can't do that," Smith said. "He's just playing politics."

Riley said he would convert the site into a two- or three-story office building for the county. He calls the expansion "a waste of money" because the enlarged jail wouldn't accommodate the growing numbers of inmates flowing into it.

The 1,000 inmates now being held at the jail -- 221 inmates over design capacity -- are awaiting trial at nearby county Circuit Court or have been convicted and are serving sentences of 18 months or less.

Riley argues that sending convicts to a regional jail in Western Maryland would free up space for all of the men awaiting trial and leave room to accommodate the 300 female inmates who were transferred from the Bosley Avenue facility.

"What we're doing is stopping it so that $70 million could be spent on a facility with more space, presumably a facility in Western Maryland, where they want these facilities," Riley said.

Under Maryland law, the county cannot transfer its inmates elsewhere in the state.

For the past two years, Republican state Sen. Andrew P. Harris of Baltimore County has submitted a bill that would allow counties to send their inmates to jails in other jurisdictions, but the bill failed both times.

This year, the bill passed both houses, but Governor Parris N. Glendening vetoed it.

"But as certain as I can be, this bill will pass next year," Harris said. "Doug's right on track."

Armacost said that even if the bill passes and is signed by the next governor, it will be years before a regional jail in Western Maryland opens.

"There is a tremendous amount of policy and logistical questions that would have to be resolved, such as how would the counties pay for it," she said. "And we've got pressing needs now."

Transferring convicted inmates, Armacost said, wouldn't free up as much space in the Kenilworth Drive jail as Riley would need for his plan.

She says sending convicts to another facility would still leave the jail short of beds.