JONESBORO, Ark. — Voters will decide in November if Craighead County needs to pass a new tax to fund a new jail.
Earlier this year, Sheriff Marty Boyd proposed a 0.5-percent sales tax that would last up to eight years to fund a new detention center. The bond issue, if approved, would generate $105 million. The county’s quorum court passed the resolution, sending it to the voters to decide in November.
At the NEA TEA Party meeting on Monday, August 5, the sheriff met with some of the biggest skeptics with regard to adding new taxes. He described it as a public safety issue that must be addressed to prosper and grow as a community. The sheriff said the jail has been overcrowded for some time and that temporary fixes have been used as a solution, until now.
The current Craighead County Detention Center has been open since 1990, when the county’s population was around 60,000. The population since then has doubled. The jail has 392 beds, but it averages around 420 inmates every day. Because of this, many inmates are sleeping on the floors.
“One of the issues we face everyday is that we have to juggle who needs to be in jail worse,” Boyd said. “We have so much of a need with population space.”
The issue is especially pressing on the misdemeanor justice system. The sheriff said in some cases, for example, an individual may serve 40-percent of their sentence and the county is forced to release them to make room for others.
Also present at the meeting was District Judge Tommy Fowler, who provided insight into the justice process and how a limited jail capacity is affecting his courtroom. Fowler said the same people are often the ones he sees back in his courtroom day after day. The majority of those causing the worst problems are from other counties. He mentioned a case where individuals came to Dillard’s in Jonesboro to shoplift perfumes, noting they were from Memphis.
“They take it back and sell it all for pure profit,” Fowler said.
Judge Fowler noted that misdemeanor subjects and felony subjects, by law, can not be placed together in the same unit. The sheriff must also prioritize keeping felony inmates in custody over those accused of misdemeanors. Fowler noted this means those accused of their first, second, or third DWI, which are misdemeanors, would be released before someone accused of possession of a meth pipe, which is a felony.
The judge emphasized that some people do not learn their lesson with fines and probation. Some need jail time. That is becoming more difficult as the jail population exceeds limits.
The sheriff does not have architectural plans yet, because he said it could cost as much as $100,000 just to get to that phase. He doesn’t want to spend that money without certainty that the project will proceed.
Because of this, the exact cost of the new facility isn’t known. However, the sheriff estimated the cost per bed to be around $140,000 to $160,000. He hopes to build a jail that can house 750 inmates. At a cost of $140,000 per bed, that would put the jail cost at $105,000,000.
The proposed tax would generate that amount, the sheriff said, adding that he had hopes the cost would come in lower. Until the design phase, the exact cost can not be determined. He said the county would work to accomplish the task for less.
The sheriff says expanding the current facility would increase personnel costs much more, whereas a new jail would allow for less personnel to operate a larger facility. He noted that of the current yearly $7 million budget, $4 million goes to personnel.
Craighead County voters will decide on the proposed bond issue this November.
Quick Details:
- Felonies make up 96% of the jail population
- The estimated cost per household would be about $10 per month more, the sheriff said
- The current jail was financed with the sale of the county hospital
- The jail holds an average of 65 state inmates per day. During COVID, that went as high as 120
- The county has a location already paid for. Much of it is in the flood plain.
The sheriff acknowledged the Protect Arkansas Act, which requires the full bail money to be collected by bail bond companies before an inmate can be released, has made overcrowding a more prevalent issue. The sheriff was quick to point out that he agreed with the new law passed in 2023 but admitted it had increased the jail population since going into effect this year.
In November, 2023, NEA Report reported that jail overcrowding issues were possibly coming due to the new law. At the time, Cari Gulley from Gulley Bail Bonds told a reporter that the jails would be “bursting at the seams” once companies began to follow the new rules.
READ MORE HERE:
Arkansas Bail Bond Laws Face Major Changes in 2024: Concerns Arise Over Jail Overcrowding
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Give us more money for the schools. Give us more money or you’ll lose your hospital. Write us a blank check for a hundred million or we can’t stop the crime. We promise we won’t ask you to vote for it again in a few years because we still need more money like we do with the schools and hospital. Got it.
The city is spending $80 on an “Event Center”,
$105 million for a much needed detention center I’m all for it, keep the bad guys off the streets as much as possible.
Why can’t we allocate a portion of the revenue generated from medical marijuana sales to directly benefit communities in this manner? In 2023, Arkansas reported $283 million in medical marijuana sales, with projections indicating increased revenue for the 2024 fiscal year. Given this substantial revenue, requesting additional taxes from already struggling communities appears short-sighted.
Jonesboro, AR, has a combined state and local sales tax rate of 10.50%, including state, county, and municipal components. Furthermore, the city imposes a 2% tax on gross revenues from prepared food sales. Despite these tax revenues, Jonesboro faces economic challenges. The median household income in Jonesboro is approximately $46,000, which is below the national median. The minimum wage in Arkansas is $11 per hour, but many residents earn even less, contributing to the financial strain on the community. Allocating a portion of medical marijuana revenue to support these communities could alleviate some of the economic pressures faced by their residents.