The Allen County Council voted down a proposed 0.2-percent local income tax rate increase that was supposed to fund the new county jail. The move halts the project for the time being as the Allen County Commissioners had said this was the only way to fund the project.
In a statement in response to the vote, the Commissioners said they are “disappointed”.
“While the county may have the resources to fix some of the crumbling infrastructure within the current jail, it does not have the ability to address long-term issues that plague the building," according to the statement. "Allen County is the subject of a judicial order demanding it correct unconstitutional conditions at the jail, the most heinous of which is chronic overcrowding. There has not yet been a year since it was built in 1981 that it met the 80-percent capacity rating considered the standard best practice in correctional facilities.”
During the public comment portion of the discussion, members of the jail opposition group Help Not Handcuffs, as well as other community members, spoke against the proposal saying things like the county needs to find alternatives to incarceration and that a new jail is too unpopular for a tax rate increase.
Allen County Prosecutor Mike McAlexander compared the jail situation to the Allen County Courthouse, saying that the county has used the same courthouse for more than 100 years because the designers had “the foresight to make it adaptable to changing times.” He told the council he hoped today’s leadership has the same foresight. When the measure failed, McAlexander said this delayed the jail project, but did not shut it down.
“Many people in the crowd, they think they just won something big,” McAlexander said. “Well, they didn’t. They got a delay, and they’re missing the point, and they’re not doing their homework as to what’s necessary.”
County Council President and District 2 Councilman Tom Harris said that point is that while there are 9,000 people in the Allen County judicial system, less than 800 individuals are incarcerated. He said that shows the county has one of the widest varieties of alternative to incarceration programs in the State of Indiana.
Republican At-large County Councilman Ken Fries said the County Commissioners had not been transparent in making the plans for the new jail. Harris, also a Republican, said that’s on council members.
“Council members have an opportunity to talk to anybody they want to,” Harris said. “So, to simply say we’ve not been included is a choice that council members make.”
Once the Allen County Sheriff, Fries said the solution to overcrowding at the jail is for people to stop committing crimes.
“When I was the sheriff, and you say previous sheriffs came and said ‘do something about this,’” He said. “This sheriff never came to council and said ‘do something about our jail.’ I would tell people when they didn’t like the food, don’t come back, and that’s the way I look at the jail, don’t come back. Don’t commit crimes, and you won’t go to jail. I don’t believe the citizens should be paying $300 million or more for it.”
Harris said the no-vote could cost even more.
“By voting no, it’s likely that the ACLU will enjoin the county council into lawsuits, and thereby costing county citizens more money, more time, more cost in litigation and delays in this process,” Harris said.
In 3rd District County Councilman Paul Lagemen’s absence, the council voted four to two against the measure with Harris and 4th District Councilman Don A. Wyss voting in favor of the measure, and 1st District Councilman Josh Hale, At-large Councilman Kyle Kerley, At-Large Councilman Bob Armstrong and Fries voting against the tax increase.
Harris said he is meeting with the U.S. District judge who ordered the county to fix the jail overcrowding problem in September. He said he expects the County Council will see the tax increase measure on its agenda again in the next month or two.