The county wants the public’s opinion first, though, before taking that to the ballot box.
The county will be holding two upcoming public hearings to consider this sales tax increase, the first of which will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 24, at the Arts and Crafts Building at the Clark County Fairgrounds, 4401 S. Charleston Pike.
The second public hearing will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 30 in the Commission Chambers, room 151, 3130 E. Main St. Commissioners will vote at this meeting whether to put the levy on the ballot.
“It’s not a vote on our part. It’s a vote on the public’s part,” Commissioner Charles Patterson said during a recent commission meeting.
Commission President Sasha Rittenhouse said a new public safety building is something they’ve needed since 2017. The safety building includes the county jail, and the proposed sales tax for a new detention center would replace this building.
“I understand the concerns of (putting it on in) November, but I also think that’s going to be our best option,” she said. “I think this fall will allow us to be able to communicate with the community more effectively and efficiently.”
County officials have been talking about updating or building a new jail for years.
A feasibility study was initially performed by DLZ in 2018 and updated in 2023. It created a report analyzing the attainability of building a new jail and public safety building, finding that a new jail would cost around $100 million now. In 2018, the study estimated a $35 million cost for renovations and a $55 million cost for a new facility.
In early 2024, officials started discussing construction of a new jail and public safety building to replace the downtown location that’s struggled for years to meet state standards. That year, the jail was found in noncompliance with 16 standards, with officials reporting they could not comply with many of them unless and until a new building is constructed.
More recently in late 2024, the state awarded more than $500,000 to the county to take steps toward remediating area brownfields, including one lot near Kenton and Burt streets that was previously identified as a potential location for a new county public safety building and jail.
If the voters don’t agree, the county can always go back and adjust their plan if needed, Commissioner Melanie Flax Wilt said, adding that it won’t change the need and they would still have to figure out a way to move forward with the center.
“It’s about being safe, secure, sustainable and making sure that our deputies and corrections officers are safe,” she said.
Every day they wait for a new center, it’s painful and more expensive, Rittenhouse said.
A new facility would allow them to do more programming, she said, such as for the Department of Reentry, which helps prepare people coming out of jail to be successful.
“It’s a half a percent increase in sales tax. Not property tax, not income taxes ... But we don’t want to spend staff time and all of this other time if the voters are not in agreement with us that this is the path that we want to go down,” she said.
For more information, call the commission office at 937-521-2005.
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