$61m bond to be floated for new SSO jail?

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$61m bond to be floated for new SSO jail?

"A new jail has to be built," Sheriff Bill Balkwill said early this week. "I know it's a tough political decision, but we have 1,058 prisoners in custody at this time. There isn't any more room. The county's responsibility is to provide enough jail space."

Florida law mandates that counties provide criminal justice facilities such as courthouses, jails and sheriffs' departments. The issue of how to finance a new jail for sentenced prisoners could become infinitely more complicated if a majority of county voters reject the bond issue, and commissioners then come under extreme pressure to provide additional cells.

The county commission doesn’t want to pay for it with local sales tax revenue. Voters will be asked to separately approve the sale of bonds for a new $61 million Sarasota County jail rather than consider the facility on a proposed project list to be paid for with revenue from a 15-year extension of the 1 percent local option sales tax.

Last week, county commissioners agreed to remove the politically difficult jail issue from a list of projects it will probably submit to the voters in a Nov. 6 referendum on extending the penny tax through the year 2024. No date for a separate referendum on jail bonds has been announced.

There is a possibility that North Port could come to the rescue and provide a rural parcel of land for the facility.

Click here for the full story.

Click here for a follow-up editorial.

$61m bond to be floated for new SSO jail?

"A new jail has to be built," Sheriff Bill Balkwill said early this week. "I know it's a tough political decision, but we have 1,058 prisoners in custody at this time. There isn't any more room. The county's responsibility is to provide enough jail space."

Florida law mandates that counties provide criminal justice facilities such as courthouses, jails and sheriffs' departments. The issue of how to finance a new jail for sentenced prisoners could become infinitely more complicated if a majority of county voters reject the bond issue, and commissioners then come under extreme pressure to provide additional cells.

The county commission doesn’t want to pay for it with local sales tax revenue. Voters will be asked to separately approve the sale of bonds for a new $61 million Sarasota County jail rather than consider the facility on a proposed project list to be paid for with revenue from a 15-year extension of the 1 percent local option sales tax.

Last week, county commissioners agreed to remove the politically difficult jail issue from a list of projects it will probably submit to the voters in a Nov. 6 referendum on extending the penny tax through the year 2024. No date for a separate referendum on jail bonds has been announced.

There is a possibility that North Port could come to the rescue and provide a rural parcel of land for the facility.

Click here for the full story.

Click here for a follow-up editorial.

great. put car1 in charge of more money to build a jail. wonder how many more of his buddies will be promoted out of this one.

Great! We want to support him on this, especially since most of us live in north port. We want to work close to home, and eliminate the need to go on the road if it's not a true life ambition to be a cop. I would stay in corrections with a new jail in the future, who wants to drive to downtown Sarasota for 25 years, way to go Sheriff, for once think globally and do the right thing.

I agree that sticking a new jail in North Port may be the right thing to do since south county is growing faster than north county. When I started here, North Port had 8000 people, but now it has close to 50,000. Growth outside of North Port's city limit is also exploding. Jim Shultz said that at the current rate of growth, south county will exceed north county's population in about 7 more years. In the old days, the population center was the City of Sarasota, but in the near future it will be the City of North Port. Where will the center of politics be then???? It will start shifting south. Building a new jail in the most populated part of the county (North Port) makes good budgetary sense, both now and in the future!!!!!