County residents will see more money taken out of their paychecks starting in October to pay for a county jail expansion project that has been needed for nearly 15 years.
The Johnson County Council gave the first OK to an income tax increase to pay for a $20 to $25 million project to build a 250-bed facility on the sheriff’s office campus in Franklin, connected to the main jail by a skywalk. A final vote is scheduled for later this month.
Residents are currently charged a 1 percent local income tax; that rate will go up to 1.2 percent. A person who makes $75,000 annually will pay about $150 more per year, according to estimates. All county residents with an income subjected to the income tax will pay the increased rate. If you work in Johnson County but live in another county, the income tax rate you pay is based on your county of principal residence as of Jan. 1 of each year.
The increase will bring in about $9 million more per year.
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County officials said they were loathe to approve a tax increase, but they had no choice. The county council voted 5-0 to approve the income tax increase, with members Jonathan Myers and Rob Henderson absent.
The last jail expansion project was in 2001, and by 2005, county officials were already exploring a more permanent solution to ongoing overcrowding. But voters rejected a property tax increase in 2010 to pay for a 400-bed expansion that would have cost $23 million.
The 2001 expansion was a $9.5 million project that increased the capacity to more than 300 beds from 104. The work was the result of a settlement that was reached after the county was sued by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union in 1997 alleging poor conditions at the jail.Â
The overcrowding has been ongoing without resolution since the failed property tax referendum nearly a decade ago, county council member Josh McCarty said. Officials from all aspects of law enforcement and the judicial system have taken all other steps to address the overcrowding. But again, the county is under a state order to increase the capacity at the jail.
The county has been warned, county council member James Ison said. Officials can take action on a plan that they are choosing, or do nothing and a federal judge will tell the county how to expand the jail, removing any local control, he said.
Further worsening the crowding at the jail is a change in state law in recent years that put the lowest-level felons in the county jails, relieving the population at the state prisons.
"We can not turn a blind eye to the issue of jail crowding," McCarty said, calling it a public safety issue for residents.
The second vote is scheduled for later this month, and timing is key. State law changes on July 1, and will limit what portion of the new tax revenue can be spent on jail operations. Approving the tax now under the current law gives the county greater flexibility in setting aside the right amount of the tax to pay for the day-to-day expenses once the expansion opens.
A public hearing and second vote on the tax increase is set for June 21.
Residents who receive Social Security income would not pay an increase, because that income is exempt from the local income tax.
In future years, the money could be used for other correctional facilities, such as community corrections. The tax would be in effect for 20 years, but the plan is for the rate to drop to .1 percent in 2023 when the debt is paid off, although the current county council cannot make such stipulations for the money, according to the Department of Local Government Finance.
Residents questioned the necessity of the tax increase and the accommodations for jail inmates.Â
Jim Curry questioned whether the public will be able to see the jail designs, and officials promised they would be available. He also wanted to know whether the jail would include recreational areas. The answer is yes, because that is required by state and federal laws.
The preliminary design work is complete, and the project will go out for bid during the winter, county commissioner Kevin Walls said.
Franklin resident Jimmy Brown reminded the council that the taxpayers said no to a jail expansion years ago, making it clear they didn’t want the project. He asked whether the county had raised rates for offenders who are on home detention or other such programs, and said the criminals should be paying for the project.Â
Center Grove resident Vaughn Moore asked officials to make the jail as lean as possible, raise the cost of items inmates can purchase in the commissary and cut out the counseling and educational components. The jail should be a place that no one wants to return to, he said.
Efforts to explore options outlined, approved
The Johnson County Board of Commissioners on Monday approved the jail feasibility study during a special public hearing by a vote of 2-0.
Ron West was absent.
The state required the county commissioners to prepare a feasibility study of possible alternatives before expanding the jail. The state requires that the county have studied a regional jail, project what the inmate need would be and estimate tax rates and how the county would pay for each of the alternatives.
One resident attended that public hearing.
"It seems like a lot of the jailing right now is pre-trial, so I have some concerns that anytime you expand a jail, you’re going to fill a jail," said Hannah Ingram, a Franklin resident who showed up expecting to hear more public comments than her own, she said.
Maybe the best solution isn’t adding beds. Maybe it is looking at the reasons why the county needs more beds, and not treating drug and mental health-related offenses criminally, she said.
"I’m not opposed to investing in my community through taxes. It’s not something that I am naturally opposed to. I just want to make sure that money is being used well," Ingram said.
Commissioners Brian Baird and Kevin Walls agreed the county has no other choice.
"The conclusion is a very sound conclusion," Baird said. "Moving forward, it’s not of the attitude, ‘If you build it, they will come,’ they’re going to come anyway."
Baird said he understands that nobody likes to pay more in taxes, including him, but a lot of fairly recent changes have played into this need for a jail expansion, such as the state making Level 6 felons the county’s responsibility. Last month, the Johnson County jail housed about 80 felons, he said. Also playing into this need is the opioid epidemic, he said.
"That overcrowding today is much more consistent than it used to be," Baird said.
"The best option was chosen. I don’t know how we could have come to any other conclusion. I think we’ve done the county a justice, not an injustice."
Reporter James Vaughn contributed.
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A local income tax increase has been tentatively approved to pay for the construction and operation of a jail expansion.
The increase would take effect in October. Here is what a .20% percent income tax increase would cost county residents, depending on your salary:
$30,000: $60
$50,000: $100
$75,000: $150
$100,000: $200
$150,000: $300
$175,000: $350
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