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Jail tax promoted to ‘captive audience’
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County firefighters attended the meeting to object to a proposal to take $40,000 from the fire departments’ cash account to pay an insurance bill. But the commissioners had been told by the district attorney’s office that the money was dedicated to the fire departments, and could not be used for other purposes. (See above story.)
District 1 Commissioner Bruce Tabor, who apologized to the firefighters for the proposal to take money from their account, then asked the firefighters to help the county keep the county jail and county courthouse open by supporting the half-cent sales tax for the county jail, a proposal county voters will decide in a special election on Oct. 13.
Tabor said later, “I had a captive audience I couldn’t pass up.”
Tabor told the firefighters, “We are in serious, dire need of help to pass this sales tax.”
He reminded the firefighters how the volunteer fire departments had to rely on membership, donations, fundraisers, grants and money from the state legislature to operate before a quarter-cent tax was approved for fire departments by the voters in 2006.
“We’re in even worse shape,” Tabor said about the county’s financial distress over operating the county jail.
“We’ve already taken 10 percent from every office to operate jail, and we may have to close the courthouse two to three days a week to keep it (the jail) open.”
Tabor said the 114-bed jail had 125 inmates as of Monday.
To questions from the firefighters, Tabor explained that the cost of running the jail has risen from about $60,000 a month when it opened to about $112,000 at the present time. He said the reason was inflation, and the rising costs of all things needed to operate the jail, from foods to medical costs.
Tabor pointed out that the county commissioners, and authorities in other counties, had at one time counted on housing Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC) prisoners for extra money on which to operate. But the DOC has moved prisoners to state facilities or are releasing minimum security prisoners, which is leaving the county jail without sufficient funds.,
“We now have 37 inmates from Tulsa County, at $27 a day. We don’t need a state prison here or a Tulsa County prison…but that’s the only way we can get any money coming in.”
Tabor said even the Tulsa County prisoners don’t bring in enough money to keep the jail open, and if the half-cent sales tax proposition doesn’t pass on Oct. 13, one of the alternatives will be to close the county courthouse two to three days a week to cut costs and keep jail doors open.
District 2 Commissioner Steve Carter has been visiting with residents in local communities urging support of the sales tax for the jail. He will be speaking to residents in the Blackgum community at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Blackgum Community Center.
“I’m just giving people the facts,” Carter said. “We’re not telling you how to vote. But we want you to know what your are voting for…or against.”
Carter, Tabor and Sheriff Ron Lockhart said that if the sales tax is not approved, the costs of operating the jail will end up on every property owners’ ad valorem taxes.
“We’ll be having lawsuits and fines and other problems, which means we will have to set up a sinking fund, and that goes back to property owners,” Tabor said.
“We get more demand for services…but it takes money to operate. We have to work on a balanced budget.”
“I guess you’d call it begging, and I’ll do it,” Tabor said.
To a question about who will run the jail, Tabor said, “We don’t mind who runs it as long as it’s run right.”
The Sequoyah County Criminal Justice Authority took over operation of the jail when it was opened 10 years ago, but turned operations over to the sheriff earlier this year. The commissioners explained that by doing so, it allowed the county to use county money to operate the jail. The authority was only allowed to use a one-sixth of a cent sales tax already in place for the jail, rent money from the court system, which uses a portion of the building, and the few fees paid by prisoners.
The commissioners pointed out that the county only gets 0.91 percent of all the sales tax money collected in the county, which varies from urban to rural areas and from city to town. The county also gets a half-cent sales tax for county roads, but that money is dedicated only to the county roads, and cannot be used for the jail.
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VOTE NO
Actually, this is worse than the tax questions last time. One of those was money for the jail, the other was for the Sheriff. Either one could win or lose. That was last time.
This time, the proposal forever links the Sheriff and the jail. The tax money would be for both as one item, with no guidance on how the money is split. A future Sheriff could spend all but a penny on his office and then cry that the jail needed more money, exactly the same cry we're hearing today.
With the old jail authority, there were checks and balances. The county commissioners were ultimately responsible. Without the jail authority, all power will be in the hands of the Sheriff with no way for complaints to be heard or addressed.
This is the big reason to vote NO. It is not just the money, this time it's the forever linkage of jail and Sheriff.
Vite NO, the Commissioners need to learn from past mistakes and propose things that will work over the long haul.
Published in The Sequoyah County Times... John David Luton, first assistant district attorney said that state law allows a judgment against the county to be added to ad valorem taxes, but he has never come across a law that would allow the county to put funding for the jail on ad valorem taxes. Nothing I know of allows the money to be spread on the tax rolls.
VOTE NO ON ALL QUESTIONS OCT. 13.
They can release my name all they want. I would love to tell a lot of the crooked yokels what I think of them right to their face. Good bye, Sequoyah County Times. From now on I will do my commenting on The Sallisaw Topix forum. Thanks for nothing. I get most of my information from the Fort Smith paper anyway. Sequoyah County Times are too scared they will step on someone's toes if they publish true facts.
Speaking of releasing names. Why not ask Jim Bob Miller of McAlester about trying to sue someone for commenting about him. The judge kicked his lawsuit out and old Jim Bob no longer has a job.
Two months ago we were told that a 1/6 of a cent would fund the jail. There is no way within a two month period that the cost to operate the jail could balloon so out of proportion as the county elected officials try to make us believe. The jail was operating just fine until Lockhart became sheriff. When Johnny Philpot was sheriff the jail had no problem operating. So what has happened to all the taxpayers money in just a few short months.
A few weeks ago the sheriff and county commissioners were blaming the shortage of money to fund the jail on the loss of other counties inmates. Well, that problem has been solved since Tulsa is housing their inmates in the Sequoyah County jail. So what seems to be the problem now. You have the inmates back. Problem should be solved, RIGHT?????
As far as the homeowners footing the bill for everything, I suggest the county do just what they said they may have to do. Close the county offices down to 3 days a week. The county assessor has already got her hand out to raise our property taxes, now the sheriff and the county commissioners have their hands out to stick it to the homeowners even more.
We taxpayers need to demand an audit of everyone of the Sequoyah County offices and find out once and for all where our money is going. The sooner the audit the better. We taxpayers are being robbed blind and it is time something is done about it.
Let them close the whole courthouse, jail, and sheriff's office down for all I care. When they are without their jobs and their outrageous high salaries, maybe they will learn a good lesson in how the rest of us have to penny pinch just to have food and a roof over our families heads.
I SAY VOTE NO ON ANY AND ALL QUESTIONS ON OCT. 13. IT IS TIME WE MAKE IT LOUD AND CLEAR TO THE INCOMPETENT ELECTED IMBECILES THAT THEY ARE NOT FOOLING THE TAXPAYERS ONE IOTA. VOTE NO NO NO
I still expect wise management of my money by the county, and I will not vote for those people who mismanage it, but that will be a different election...