Stearns County Makes Final Push on Justice Center Sales Tax

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- Voters will go to the polls on Tuesday and one of the questions Stearns County residents will decide whether to approve a 3/8-cent sales tax to pay for a new jail and justice center.

The county needs to build the complex to satisfy Minnesota Department of Corrections requirements and add jail beds.

Stearns County Administrator Mike Williams says by approving the sales tax, the project won't have to be paid for through property taxes. He says it's a more fair way to pay for it...

Half of the people that are in our criminal justice system are not from Stearns County. And, if we fund it with sales tax, 54% of that is going to come from people outside of the county.

The sales tax would be for up to 30 years, for up to $325-million, and would expire once the justice center is paid off.

Williams says it's important to note that if the sales tax referendum fails, the justice center will still get built...

People, of course, think about the project and it's what I would call a misconception that we're hearing at these meetings, that if they vote no then there's not going to be a project. And as I said, the county intends to take of these issues so there will be a project. So, the question on the ballot is really, how do we want to fund it.

Stearns County's current Law Enforcement Center was built in 1986. The jail has been overcrowded since 2013 and the new jail would add an additional 100 beds.

Currently, the county spends $500,000-$1,000,000 a year to send jail inmates to other counties who have the room.