How Sequoyah County’s jail will be funded will be decided in a special election Tuesday as Sequoyah County voters cast their ballots for or against a half-cent sales tax for jail operations and maintenance and the sheriff’s office.

Sequoyah County Commissioners voted at a special meeting in August to turn county jail operations over to Sheriff Ron Lockhart and also called for the vote on a half-cent sales tax, which will go to the sheriff to operate the jail.

If the half-cent sales tax fails, county officials say property owners will most likely bear the financial burden of jail operations. County commissioners have said that, with no money to operate the jail, prisoners will have to be housed in other county jails, and the county will face lawsuits filed by prisoners. If the lawsuit outcomes go against the county, the amount awarded in the lawsuits will go onto ad valorem taxes automatically.

The jail was previously operated by a trust authority, which is now dormant. When county commissioners noted that the state was reducing the number of Department of Corrections inmates housed in county jails — thus reducing the amount of money the county raised by housing DOC prisoners — they turned over the jail to the sheriff. By doing so, the one-sixth of a cent already in place for the jail remained in place. The commissioners determined that if county prisoners were housed in other county jails, the county would lose that one-sixth of a cent sales tax. Also, turning over the jail allowed county money to be used for its operations. The jail trust authority could not use county money to operate the jail.

If the sales tax passes, it will save property owners from the possible increase on their ad valorem taxes, and would shift the tax to everyone who comes into the county to purchase merchandise. That half-cent sales tax is predicted to bring in about $1.4 million a year, Lockhart said.

Sheriff asks for support

“We need the tax to pass,” Lockhart said Thursday.

Lockhart said the jail can be run three ways — through the sheriff’s department, by the criminal justice authority or by housing prisoners in other facilities.

“To house inmates in other facilities, it will cost more money then keeping the jail open,” Lockhart said.

He said state law requires the county have jail facilities.

“We can either pass the tax and keep the jail here or we will have to pay other counties to house our prisoners, which will cost more money,” Lockhart said. “The tax will bring in about $1.4 million. The burden will be taken off of the county budget.”

Sheriff’s budget

Lockhart explained that the new jail has never been an item in the county budget. It ran under the criminal justice authority based on the one-sixth sales tax and money paid by the state for house DOC prisoners. The jail was not funded by county money, Lockhart said.

“I guess they had money saved, plus they had the DOC prisoners,” Lockhart said. “About a year ago they quit shipping as many DOC inmates.

“The sheriff’s department has always had the same budget, about $598,000, that is for the dispatch center, maintenance, operation, fuel and etc.,” Lockhart said.

He said the county is proposing $9,000 more dollars then what the sheriff’s department had last year to run both operations — the jail and the sheriff’s office.

“There is no way to do it,” Lockhart said. “When we first got the jail there was $4,000 in the account for the jail. The first five months (of 2009) to operate the jail the figures came to $112,000 a month.”

Lockhart said the city of Sallisaw has a $1.6 million budget for their police department alone.

“They got less then 45 square miles to cover with 22 officers. We got 673 square miles to cover with nine road deputies with a $382,000 budget,” Lockhart said.

“The rural citizens need to get out and vote for this tax. It’s going to hurt them more the citizens in town because they have their own police department; the rural citizens don’t. It’s a shame these rural citizens will let the citizens in Sallisaw regulate what they are going to get. That is why it is so important for the rural citizens to get out and vote yes for this tax,” Lockhart said.

The tax benefit

County Clerk Vicki Sawney said, “The ad valorem taxes will eventually go up if the tax is not passed.”

She said the county will not be able to pay the bills and vendors will file suit against the county. When the suits are filed the vendors will receive a judgment from the suit for the amount owed and that amount will go into a sinking fund, which is paid through the ad valorem taxes.

“The property owners in the city and the county will be supporting the jail,” Sawney said.

“With the sales tax,” Sawney said, “the tax will be spread out over a wider area. People who come into the county to purchase items will pay the tax, not just Sequoyah County property owners.”

Sawney said 35 to 40 percent of the taxes are collect from people who don’t live in the county.

Sawney said, “The tax rate would go from 9.417 percent to 9.917 percent in Sallisaw. It won’t be a noticeable difference. But if it has to come out of the ad valorem taxes it will be noticeable to the property owners.

“With the 9.417 percent sales tax (in Sallisaw) we have now if a person was to spend $127 on items at Walmart the tax would make the total bill $138.95.”

She said with the increased one-half-cent tax the total bill would equal $139.59.

“That would be a 64-cent increase,” Sawney said.

Sheriff’s new vehicles

“I’m not overspending,” Lockhart said about new equipment recently purchased for the sheriff’s office.

“We’ve spent $38,000 since Jan. 1 on buying used vehicles. That money came from our cash account. Nothing we have bought has come out of the general funds.

“In January we filled for a grant for equipment through the Justice Department. We were approved. We bought new vehicles and equipment.”

Lockhart applied for and was awarded a JAG (Justice Assistance Grant) through the U.S. Department of Justice, which he said is an equipment grant. He said they were approved for the grant and the sheriff’s office received $92,000 to help with the purchase of equipment.

“This did not cost the taxpayers one dime,” Lockhart said. “No money from the county budget has been used.

“I met my budget, I didn’t overspend, not one penny,” Lockhart said. “I’ve been working hard on trying to get grants. My goal is to leave the sheriff’s office in better shape then what it was in when I took office. I will apply for every grant I can to help this sheriff’s office be top notch.”