Salt Lake County residents may face a new tax increase this summer.
The Salt Lake County Council gave its first nod to a sales tax increase this week that would, in part, add capacity within the Salt Lake County jail system.
Salt Lake County residents may face a new tax increase this summer.
The Salt Lake County Council gave its first nod to a 0.2-percentage-point sales tax increase this week. If approved at the council’s next meeting, the hike would go into effect July 1 and collect a penny for every $5 spent in the county.
The increase would help to add about 250 beds to the Salt Lake County jail system after residents rejected a half-billion-dollar bond in November that would’ve expanded one of the facilities and shuttered another.
Roughly $19 million — about a quarter of the projected $76 million to be generated by the tax each year — would go toward the county’s jail system. About $38 million of the new revenue would pay for transportation projects in Salt Lake County, and another $19 million would go to cities within the county for municipal-level transportation projects.
Before casting their first votes on the tax at their Tuesday meeting, council members expressed frustration with state legislators’ efforts to step in and change how the jail is run.
“The pressure put on us from the state Legislature and leadership there to fix this this minute and not giving us a chance, or a couple years, to figure this out, and even time to meet on it, it’s not very fair, to be honest,” council member Laurie Stringham said. “So we’re going to fix it. But this is the only mechanism, really, we have to fix it at this moment, and they’ve not given us time to fix it otherwise.”
Need for jail space
County officials have said the jail desperately needs more beds. The facility was last expanded in 2001, and since then, the county’s population has ballooned by over 30%.
Last year, nearly 4,000 inmates were released early due to overcrowding, Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Matt Dumont said during a January council meeting. Current jail numbers show the facility is at 95% capacity with 1,987 inmates. It has an operational capacity of 2,101 inmates.
While a new federal law and recent mandates from the Trump administration will result in more enforcement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, county officials insist those efforts are not the impetus for the expansion that would be funded by the new sales tax. The county has long offered ICE 10 beds within its metro jail, and that number won’t change, officials said.
Proposals from the Legislature, meanwhile, are putting more pressure on county officials to address overcrowding.
HB312, sponsored by Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, would cut down on the sheriff’s ability to issue overcrowding releases for individuals charged with certain crimes, instead forcing overpopulated jails to transfer those inmates to less-crowded facilities in other counties.
During her presentation of the bill, Lisonbee said of the thousands of inmates released from the Salt Lake County jail last year due to overcrowding, 106 had been charged with a sex offense, 96 were charged with assault and 46 had been charged with burglary.
“When cities and counties fail to provide resources and support for public safety, the impacts are not only felt by city and county residents, but statewide,” Lisonbee said during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on her bill. “And certainly statewide we are seeing these impacts.”
What’s next
The proposed tax hike passed 7-2 during its first reading this week.
Council members Sheldon Stewart and Carlos Moreno cast the two votes against the increase, with Stewart expressing frustration that the county can’t find $19 million in its $2 billion budget for the jail.
“There’s lots that I would cut in the budget; this council doesn’t have the willingness to do it,” Stewart said. “… I think we’re backdooring the bond that failed through this sales tax, and we’re going to go and do the programs that were already written there, which the residents came out very clearly [against].”
Council member Aimee Winder Newton said 74% of the county’s $600 million general fund — which is the only fund officials can use for public safety needs — already goes toward criminal justice, while the rest largely goes toward elected officials and other county employees.
“I’ve got the budget right here; I don’t know where we’re going to find $19 million in ongoing funds,” Winder Newton said. “There’s just not funds there. To any of my colleagues who think that we can find cuts instead of enacting this tax, I would say, ‘Bring it. Let’s talk about it here.’”
The County Council plans to cast a final vote at its meeting next Tuesday. Residents can weigh in on the tax during the meeting’s public comment period, which begins at 3 p.m.
If the tax moves forward, about $6.4 million of the $19 million would be allocated toward adding 248 beds to the county’s jail system, including 184 at the Oxbow Jail and 64 at the Salt Lake County metro jail.
The remaining $12.6 million in revenue would be allocated toward future modifications to the metro jail, along with immediate deferred maintenance needs at the Oxbow facility and “other key criminal justice priorities,” according to a county news release.
“We are dedicated to public safety in Salt Lake County and appreciate the County Council’s decision, which allows us to increase our capacity at the Oxbow Jail,” Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said in the news release. “Jail population has increased over the years and this additional funding will help us manage the increased demand for beds.”
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