Funds to help increase public safety
SPOKANE COUNTY – A proposed sales and use tax that would help fund different areas of law enforcement and public safety will be on the Nov. 7 ballot for public vote.
Measure No. One, also known as the Law and Justice Proposal for Spokane County looks to increase sales tax by two cents on every $10.
According to county documents, the funds would be invested in expanding on or building new correctional facilities to combat overcrowding. Other funds would be used to help teach offenders general life and behavior skills so they are less likely to become repeat offenders.
The idea behind this according to county documents is that the Geiger facility on the West Plains would be closed and the facility in downtown Spokane would be expanded.
This would restore the downtown jail to the original capacity of 462 inmates, and it would absorb the inmate population from Geiger.
The new downtown expansion looks to add a minimum to medium security housing facility that would hold up to 768 inmates by 2028.
Another minimum security Community Corrections Center would also be added, and would hold up to 128 inmates.
The entire space will be known as the Law and Justice Center and is estimated to cost $300 million.
Currently the county is able to hold 948 total inmates, and this expansion would add 410 beds totaling 1358 inmate beds by 2028.
More space is needed as the population in the region continues to grow exponentially.
According to the county this will help decrease facility overcrowding, which is a big problem in the county.
Currently, 14 percent of offenders are released immediately after being booked into jail because of overcrowding. According to county documents, the downtown jail is routinely over capacity by 110 inmates.
The county plans on allocating 60 percent straight to the county as per state law, and then the other 40 percent would be dispersed to towns throughout the county.
The one exemption is that car sales and vehicle leases up to three years would not be affected by the measure.
If passed the tax would start April 2024, and run through December 31, 2054. Spanning 30 years.
Matthew graduated from West Virginia University-Parkersburg in 2011 with a journalism degree. He's an award-winning photographer and enjoys writing stories about people.
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