Group wants jail measure held

A powerful business lobby asked the Kootenai County Commission on Tuesday to pull the $50 million jail expansion measure off the Nov. 8 ballot, arguing it needs more work.

Commission Chairman Gus Johnson refused, saying Concerned Businesses of North Idaho used inflated numbers and is mistaken about the facts. Johnson and Commissioner Katie Brodie said the public has a right to vote on whether to use the local-option sales tax to pay for the jail expansion.

“It’s a scare tactic to try to get the public to think there is a shell game going on,” Johnson said. “Let’s let the public decide – not little splinter groups.”

Confusion about whether the ballot language caps the cost of the jail expansion at $50 million over the next 10 years is at the center of the controversy.

The money would come if voters agree to continue the half-cent local option sales tax approved in 2000.

While not backing down, Concerned Business acknowledged Tuesday night that it based its comments on the wrong version of the ballot language, which was provided by the county.

The business group said it reviewed ballot language that stated the cost of the jail was “estimated to be $50 million,” which members said would give the county an “open checkbook” and might allow for projects other than the jail expansion.

Yet the actual ballot language states that the debt “shall not exceed” $50 million. The change was made at the commission’s Sept. 13 public meeting.

“That’s great,” said Executive Director Kelly Richards, who earlier in the day lobbied the county to hold off and tighten the wording.

Johnson was frustrated that the business group was using inaccurate information to demand that the county kill the ballot measure just 28 days before the election. The language change “isn’t a big surprise,” he said. “It’s been there, and they had a member sitting on the jail committee.”

John Perry of Empire Airlines is on the citizens’ advisory group and Concerned Businesses board. He didn’t return a phone call.

Richards said the group acknowledges that a jail expansion is needed and that the half-cent local option sales tax is the best way to pay for the project. It just wants to work with the county to fix some details and present it to voters in May. “We very much want to work with the county to figure this out,” he said.

Besides concerns about whether the cost is capped, members of the nonprofit organization that characterizes itself an advocate for taxpayers worries that the money isn’t confined to jail expansion and could be used for other “detention facility” needs. The group also alleges that the price tag could be reduced by several million dollars and says that questions remain about the cost of staffing the jail after the expansion.

Although the county is paying off a previous $12 million jail expansion with the half-cent sales tax, the jail is already running out of space.

Currently, the county must put half of the money toward jail payments and half toward property tax relief.

The commission wants the flexibility to increase the percentage of sales tax going toward property tax relief if revenue is greater than expected.

In June, Kootenai County collected more than $1 million in sales tax. That was about $400,000 more than anticipated.