Sedgwick County JailElections can do strange things to people.
In Johnson County, voters face a quarter-cent sales-tax renewal to fund more than $130 million in public-safety building costs alone. The most expensive item: A $60 million, 554-bed jail expansion and the operating costs to run it.
But in Sedgwick County in south central Kansas, county leaders there may back away from expanding their jail, a move that would save taxpayers money.
County Manager Bill Buchanan said alternative criminal justice programs are working to reduce the jail's population, and the county should give money back to taxpayers by rolling back property taxes.
But Deb Gruver of the The Wichita Eagle reports that one County Commission candidate said the proposal is more about politics than money.
Buchanan has recommended that commissioners walk away from a planned $54 million expansion of the jail.
Gruver reports the advice is a turnaround for the county, whose commissioners voted in 2006 to raise the mill levy by 2.5 mills to pay for more beds at the jail. That raised property taxes on a $100,000 home by $28.75 a year.
Under the proposal, the county would give taxpayers a one-mill break, reducing taxes by $11.50 on a $100,000 house. Could any of this mirror the Johnson County experience? You decide.
“With the cost of everything trending one way -- up -- Sedgwick County Manager Bill Buchanan certainly got everybody's attention with his recommendation to forgo a long-planned jail expansion and cut property taxes by 1 mill,” the newspaper’s editorial board opined.
“But is it too good to be true?”
Sheriff Gary Steed still says the expansion is needed, as does Undersheriff Bob Hinshaw, a GOP candidate for sheriff.
“County commissioners must ensure that their excitement over the prospect of a tax cut -- in an election year! -- doesn't keep them from fully scrutinizing Buchanan's enticing proposal.
“That said, if commissioners determine that the county truly doesn't need to spend $54 million to add 390 beds to the jail, then by all means they should shelve the expansion.”
Said one reader: “Here's the political prediction: After the election they will see the need one year later that the jail is needed. They will then ask for another 2.5 mills for the jail. This is all about elections.”
