Community members lobby commissioners for, against sales tax to build new Lorain County Jail

ELYRIA — More that two dozen people showed up Tuesday afternoon to hear from and give input to county commissioners who are deciding whether to put a 0.25 percent sales tax on the November ballot to pay for a new Lorain County Jail. A new jail would replace the current facility on Murray Ridge Road, described by county officials and experts as dangerously outdated. The county's Jail Advisory Board voted in June to recommend a $142.6 million, 540-bed design for the new jail. The plan is to build it behind the existing jail. No decision was made Tuesday except to put the issue on the board's July 28 agenda. That meeting will be at 3:30 p.m. on the fourth floor of the County Administration Building in downtown Elyria and streamed live on YouTube. "The jail is inadequate for our needs," Commissioner Jeff Riddell said, "and it's inadequate for state and federal regulations." "The largest detox facility in our county," the jail sometimes houses "our neighbors and friends," he said. With the current jail approaching 50 years old, "you get to a point where the cost of maintenance and keeping it up exceeds the cost to replace it," Commissioner Marty Gallagher said. "Maintenance costs are to a point where there's no return on the cost of operating it." Commissioners propose to put a single 0.25 percent sales tax increase on the November ballot and let voters choose. If it passes it would increase the county sales tax from 6.5 percent to 6.75 percent for 15 years. One option could appear on the ballot for "criminal and administrative justice services" while the other could appear for the "construction, equipping or repair" of the jail. Commissioners will choose one, not both. The proposed tax increase would raise an estimated $13 million to $14 million annually before it would "sunset" in 15 years, and the tax rate would revert to 6.5 percent. Lorain County is one of four counties — along with Butler, Stark and Wayne — with the lowest sales tax rates in the state at 6.5 percent. The money would be used to pay back construction bonds. Construction time is estimated at two years, Riddell said. Some speakers at Tuesday's meeting were against paying for a new jail at all, as well as for any new taxes. "Why don't the people using the facility pay for it?" Linda Heck of Elyria said. "I'm not gonna use this ... I don't want to pay for it." She told commissioners they "don't want to debate us, you want to take our money." "You want me to pay for Lorain County's bums on top of that. I'm out," Heck said. Though he sympathizes with Sheriff Jack Hall's needs when it comes to a new jail, retired Grafton Correctional Institution employee Norm Sabol of Carlisle Township said, "I'm against any new taxes. I'm just tired of it. "If it comes on the ballot, I'll be voting against it." Every proposed tax increase represents "another difficult choice for families" who already are facing inflated costs and increased property taxes, Michele Simmerman of LaGrange Township said. Some speakers at the hearing said they simply don't trust commissioners. "We definitely need a new jail, there's no ifs, ands or buts about that," New Russia Township resident Andrea Barlow said, "but it's a trust issue." Commissioners aren't managing taxpayer money correctly, Dave Roberts of LaGrange Township said. "I feel you should do better in that respect," Roberts said. "You're not dealing with what you should be dealing with in an adequate manner." Others like Terry Shilling of Elyria were more blunt: Impose the tax, he said. "Let's go," said Shilling, who said he was "absolutely" in favor of a sales tax increase. Commissioners could impose the tax without voters' approval, but all three commissioners said Tuesday they will not do that. Even if they did, Commissioner David Moore said, voters would have months to organize, challenge the decision and possibly overturn it. Leslie Menges of Carlisle Township said prior experience with Bible ministry to women at the jail and girls at the county Detention Home let her see how much a new jail is needed. "It was not good then," she said. "I've seen it at capacity," but there's too much "discord" and mistrust of county government right now. Menges asked commissioners to halt plans for sewers on the county's west side, for an industrial "mega site" in New Russia Township and to first restore trust in the community by resolving the ongoing county Job and Family Services workers' strike before asking voters to pay more taxes. Progress has already been made on the site selection, planning and design process of the proposed new jail. DLZ Architecture is the architect and Granger Construction is the construction manager. The design process also has had input from veteran corrections officers and jail experts. Built in 1977 and updated in 1997, the existing jail has 422 beds. The building leaks, the heating and cooling systems are in disrepair, equipment is so old it can't be replaced and floor drains back up and flood. There are not enough beds nor cells for women inmates, those with mental illness or violent, high-risk inmates. State grants are available, but aren't nearly enough to cover the cost of the project. There currently is a 0.25 percent sales tax for Lorain County Jail operations passed in 1994. That revenue hasn't kept up with inflation, said the commissioners, who spend about $5 million annually out of the county general fund on jail operations each year above and beyond the 1994 tax. Representing her boss, Common Pleas Judge Chris Cook, who is one of the seven members of the county's Jail Advisory Board, civil administrator Leeza Bozicevich read a prepared statement in which Cook said the judges "fully support the commissioners, the sheriff and the other interested stakeholders ... on the importance of building a new jail." A new jail will stop the county from spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on annual maintenance, give Lorain County judges more options to keep the community safe, reduce legal claims and lawsuits by inmates and employees "and provide better mental health care to the affected inmates," Cook wrote. Commissioners said keeping the current jail and its outdated floor plan, which doesn't meet legal requirements and state regulations, is not an option. "It's not safe for the corrections officers and it forces them into some behavior that's not good for them or for the inmates. They're put in some dangerous situations," Riddell said. "When we need to lock somebody up, we need to do it correctly." If the sales tax goes on the ballot, it's going to take a lot of discussions and effort to sell it to the public, speakers said Tuesday. "I think we have a lot of educating and a lot of advocating to do," Domestic Relations/Juvenile Judge Lisa Swenski said. Tuesday's hearing was about whether voters get the opportunity to vote on the matter, she said. "As of today, I still have a right to vote and I want to vote on important things such as whether my sales tax increases. If you don't want it, you'll vote against it," Swenski said. "If we can't make the case and prosecute the case why we need to raise the sales tax for 15 years and have it sunset, then we deserve to lose." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.