Logan County voters Tuesday passed two sales taxes to pay for building and operating an estimated $10 million jail.
Voters went to the polls to decide whether to approve a 0.5 percent sales tax to pay off bonds that will be issued to finance construction of a 100-bed jail and another 0.5 percent sales tax to meet jail operating expenses.
With 19 of 19 precincts reporting, the complete but unofficial vote total was:
For the bond tax 1,842
Against the bond tax 746
For the operations tax 1,881
Against the operations tax 753
Sheriff Boyd Hicks said he was thankful to the citizens of the county who approved the taxes and was overwhelmed by the margin of victory, saying the 71 percent approval rating was larger than 63 percent margin he had predicted.
He said he believed passage of the taxes was the result of spreading the word about the need for the new jail and getting the facts before the people.
"I can see light at the end of the tunnel," he said.
County officials proposed to build the new jail to replace the 27-year-old jail that violates state jail standards and that the local Criminal Detention Facilities Review Committee has threatened to close.
The ballot question approved Tuesday allows for up to $13 million in bonds to be sold for construction, but County Judge Ray Gack said he does not believe the project will cost that much.
Hicks has said the jail was overcrowded and its condition threatened the safety of jail employees, inmates and the community. The current jail was built to hold up to 34 inmates but routinely holds more.
Plans call for the proposed replacement jail to be built on 8 acres of county property behind the Paris Police Station off U.S. 22 on the east end of Paris. Officials want the lockup to be built with four sections in a square configuration with one section left unfinished for future expansion.
The jail will be designed so all sections of the jail could be monitored and controlled from a central location.
The jail building also will contain the sheriff's office, an arraignment courtroom and a large booking and holding area.
Gack said it could take 18 months for design and architectural work to be completed before bids can be sought and the construction contracts awarded. He said construction could take two years.
Officials estimate it will take 15 years to pay off the jail construction bonds, after which the 0.5 percent sales tax that paid them off would expire.
The half-percent tax for operations will be ongoing, generating about $1 million a year for the additional cost of operating the larger jail. Hicks estimated it will take 10 to 15 more staff members to operate the new jail. The current jail has 12 full- and part-time employees.
Metro on 07/13/2016