The levy would have imposed a 0.25% temporary sales tax on purchases made in Greene County that would fund the construction of a new facility for $53 million. The county jail is 52 years old and has been under a consent decree for 32 years, which limits the population of the jail and prohibits overcrowding. Officer locker rooms have been converted to detainee interview rooms, programming is conducted in jail administrator break rooms, and a sally port is unusable due to a crumbling foundation.
As a sales tax, the county estimates that 40% of the funding would be paid by non-Greene County residents who choose to spend their money at area businesses. Greene County’s sales tax is currently at 6.75 percent. The levy would bring it up to an even 7% for 16 years, and the tax would would be lifted as soon as the jail is paid for.
In 2020, Greene County voted down a similar levy that would have increased the number of beds from 382 to 500. That request failed by a margin of 61% to 39%.
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