Platte County jail tax on ballot could bring in $400 million. Will voters OK 20-year hike?
Voters in Platte County will decide next month if they want to pay a half-cent sales tax for the next 20 years to expand the jail, more than doubling its current capacity.
The jail expansion project in Platte City is expected to cost $85 million, which the county wants to issue in general obligation bonds and then pay back through the new proposed sales tax hike. Voters will need to approve each measure separately — one question on the ballot asks about taking out the $85 million in bonds and the other asks about adding the sales tax.
Beyond the cost of the expansion, the sales tax is expected to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars, $400 million total, which would fund additional staff positions and services at the jail.
A 2019 measure to expand the facility failed.
Platte County Sheriff Mark Owen, who is not running for reelection, said the jail is over capacity. On Monday, 202 people were detained at the facility, which was built in 1998. The jail’s capacity is 180. It has reached up to 240, Owen said.
According to online records, people were detained on a range of charges, from traffic offenses like speeding and driving with a revoked license, to more serious offenses like murder. The vast majority were being held pre-trial, meaning they haven’t been convicted or sentenced yet, but either a judge ordered them to remain behind bars for community safety or they are unable to afford bond.
Some cells originally designed for one person housed three. During a tour of the jail on Monday, several cells with bunk beds had a mattress on the ground to accommodate a third person. Some of those detained were heard complaining about the overcrowding.
Owen, who supports the sales tax, said older parts of the current jail, like vents, were rusting. Those materials can be pried off and made into weapons.
Sometimes, the sheriff’s office has to send people to jails in Cass and Buchanan counties when they are over capacity, which requires additional costs for staff time and transportation.
How big should the jail be?
If the ballot questions pass, the jail would expand to 470 beds, a 161% increase in capacity. The funding would renovate the current facility, add a new building and pay for operations costs.
Construction would begin in 2025. HMN Architects, an Overland Park firm that has designed several jails in the region, won a design contract for the project at the end of 2023. Plans include the ability to better separate those charged with violent or non-violent crimes, creating more cells for people with medical or mental health needs and a repurposed booking area.
The sheriff said he expects the number of people in jail to increase in the coming years. The county hired a national jail consultant to calculate the number of beds based on the county’s growth and trends. Jail populations fluctuate not only because of crime rates but because of policy decisions that determine who should be incarcerated and for how long.
Nationally over the past decade, the number of jail beds in the country has increased, while the occupancy rate of local jails has decreased, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Activists with groups including Decarcerate KC are opposed to the ongoing expansion of jails in the metro.
Jackson County is embarking on a more than $300 million jail project which will feature 1,000 beds. Kansas City is also pursuing a new detention facility.
“Our local governments continue to ask taxpayers to pay for jails rather than investing in systems of care,” said Chris Lopez, with Decarcerate KC.
“At what point do we refocus ourselves and really think about the root causes?”
Dylan Pyles said the organization supports programs, reforms and strategies that prevent contact with the criminal justice system in the first place. That includes investing in services like health care and education.
“I think thinking about where your tax dollars are best spent is obviously really important,” Pyles said.
A 20-year tax?
If the proposal passes, people in Platte County will pay an additional tax on purchases, including online sales, for the next 20 years. For example, consumers will pay an additional $0.05 on $10 and $0.50 on $100.
Over its lifespan, the tax would generate hundreds of millions of dollars more than the expansion itself would cost.
The measure’s language says the county could use the funds for the jail’s operations and maintenance. With the sheriff’s anticipated increase of people in the jail, he said they will also need additional staffing.
The sales tax is projected to raise about $400 million, according to Platte County. That would pay for 26 additional positions as well as more services, including mental health care and educational programming, Owen said.
The plan is expected to meet the county’s needs through 2048.
Platte County Treasurer Rob Willard said he supports an expanded jail, but has voiced criticism of the proposed tax hike and specifically, the length of the tax.
“I support the principle but not the plan,” Willard, a former assistant prosecutor, said in a news release. “Twenty years is too long for a tax like this. If approved, a whole generation of Platte County voters will be denied the right to act as a check on government.”
“A vote every ten years allows the people to judge whether the government has been a good steward of the money.”
Wording on the ballot
The primary vote will take place on Aug. 6. Voters will cast ballots on the following:
Question 1 asks: Shall Platte County, Missouri issue its general obligation bonds in the amount not to exceed $85,000,000 for the purpose of designing, acquiring, constructing, installing, improving, furnishing, and equipping an expanded and improved inmate detention center in the County, including without limitation more areas to segregate violent and sexual offenders and to provide expanded mental health care and education of inmates?
Question 2 asks: Shall Platte County, Missouri be authorized to impose a countywide sales tax for the purpose of designing, acquiring, constructing, installing, improving, furnishing, equipping, operating, and maintaining an expanded and improved inmate detention center in the County, including without limitation the payment of debt service on general obligation bonds issued for such purpose, at a rate of one-half of one percent for a period of twenty years from the date on which the tax is first imposed?
Question 1 requires a 4/7 majority and question 2 requires a simple majority, according to the county. Both must pass to move forward with the expansion.
This story was originally published July 9, 2024 at 12:40 PM.
