Lawrence County voters approve law enforcement tax; plans for a new jail in progress - KY3
Mt.VERNON, Mo. (KY3) - In the November 2 election, voters approved the Lawrence County Law enforcement tax, allowing plans for a new jail and sheriffs off to be made.
A 3/8 cent sales tax will go into effect in the spring, but county officials have begun working on the new facility’s plans.
“Nobody likes taxes,” said Lawrence County Sheriff Brad DeLay. “We are relieved that it did pass, it took a simple majority to get through. At this point, we have spoken with the architects hired to do this project already. So the next step that we’re looking at doing is starting some initial plans and blueprints that we’re going to go over probably multiple times to try to make sure we get what we need and what we are asking for.”
The sheriff says the Lawrence County jail has several problems making it dangerous for deputies and inmates. The issues include poor ventilation, a leaky roof that causes thousands of dollars in water damage to equipment, and a lack of space. The county spends $500,000 per year housing prisoners in other counties.
“That jail is not built for any expansion, it’s landlocked, you can’t go anywhere with it,” said DeLay. “So that presented a huge problem in what we were trying to fix. This gives us some room for expansion later on in years to come.”
Once the new building is completed, the jail will go from 52 beds to 120.
“In the long run, what we are trying to build for is to build enough space that if some other county needs to house inmates in it, and that could include federal prisoners,” said DeLay. “We do have that in the plans, but that would also generate us some more revenue again, to pay off this debt even quicker. But that’s not going to be one of those immediate things.”
The facility is expected to cost between $15-$18 million and will be located in Mt. Vernon Industrial Park South.
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source: https://www.ky3.com/2021/11/04/lawrence-county-voters-approve-law-enforcement-tax-plans-new-jail-progress/
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