How Logan County residents vote on a sales-tax issue Tuesday will determine whether the county jail remains open, officials say.
Voters go to the polls to decide whether to institute two 0.5 percent sales taxes. Proceeds from one of the taxes would finance the construction of a 100-bed jail. The other would generate the additional money to operate the larger jail.
Logan County Clerk Peggy Fitzjurls said polls will be open 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at all 19 regular polling places in the county.
Early voting began July 5 and runs through 5 p.m. Monday. Logan County has 12,292 registered voters. As of Friday afternoon, 349 people had voted early, a good turnout for a special election in Logan County, Fitzjurls said.
After one of four town-hall meetings county officials held in the past month on the tax, Sheriff Boyd Hicks said a member of the local jail inspection committee complimented him on his presentation. But he told Hicks that Hicks had made one mistake when he said it was uncertain whether the committee would shut down the jail if the tax failed.
"He said if it doesn't pass, we are shutting the jail down," Hicks said.
Logan County Judge Ray Gack, a former county sheriff, said a jail inspector told him it wasn't a matter of "if" but "when" the jail would be shut down if the tax didn't pass.
The Quorum Court has made plans for a new jail because the current lockup, built in 1989 to hold up to 34 inmates, is out of date, overcrowded and, according to Hicks, unsafe for his employees, inmates and the public.
On Wednesday, according to the sheriff's Facebook page, there were 32 inmates in the jail.
Plans, drawn up by Fort Smith architect Jo Minden with Biggerstaff Minden & Hall, show a jail that will hold 100 inmates with a constructed but unfinished pod for 40 more prisoners when the need arises. It also includes new space for the sheriff's office and an arraignment courtroom.
It would be built on 8 acres of county land behind the Paris Police Department off Arkansas 22 on the city's west side.
Gack said the estimated cost to build the jail is $10 million, but the ballot question says bonds totaling no more than $13 million would be sold to finance the construction.
"We're going to spend just exactly what it costs to build," Gack said. "Everybody anticipates it will be $10 million or less."
The money from the bond issue that isn't needed for construction will be used to pay back the bonds early, he said. It is estimated to take 15 years to pay off the bonds, after which the 0.5 percent sales tax would expire.
The other 0.5 percent sales tax on the ballot would remain to raise the extra $1 million the sheriff will need to operate the new jail. The sheriff now has 12 full- and part-time jail employees. He said he will need 10 to 15 more to operate the new jail, including cooks and, possibly, a nurse.
Gack said the county had no alternative to a sales tax.
The Quorum Court could increase the property tax by 2 mills without a public vote, but 2 mills would generate only $500,000 a year, he said.
Without a jail, Logan County would have to contract with another county to hold its prisoners, Gack said. It not only would be expensive to pay to house the prisoners, but Logan County would have to pay for the fuel, wages, and vehicle wear and tear to transport prisoners back and forth.
Logan County would look more attractive to criminals and less attractive to business operators contemplating a move into the county, Gack said.
Gack said some residents have expressed opposition to the sales tax simply because they don't want to pay more taxes. Some city officials also oppose it because the additional tax may make it harder to pass local sales taxes.
But Gack said a jail was a necessity, not an amenity like a water park or bike trail.
"My opinion is we need to do this for the betterment of our county and for generations to come," he said.
State Desk on 07/10/2016