Members of the jail authority voted to make the final loan payment on the jail Monday.

Tabor said the final payment, which was about $46,500 was made Tuesday, and accounts are being set up at First National Bank in Sallisaw for the collection of revenue for the jail.

The jail is funded for various reasons through a half-cent sales tax. One-third of the tax is permanent and is to pay for jail maintenance and operation. The other two-thirds of the half cent was collected to pay for the construction of the jail.

With the final payment made, that two-thirds of a half-cent sales tax will disappear from the county sales tax "probably immediately," Tabor said. Tabor explained that Oklahoma Tax Commission will be informed of the pay off within a few days.

But Tabor is hoping that county residents will approve the continuation of the tax. In the past, authority members reported the one-third of the half-cent tax was bringing in about $25,000 a month. That is not enough to maintain and operate the jail, Tabor said. Consequently, the jail has had to house Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC) inmates, at a fee of about $31 a day, to help pay for jail operations and maintenance.

Tabor said if county voters will approve that one-third of a half cent tax, to be added to the permanent tax, the jail could send DOC prisoners back to the state.

Jail Administrator Christine Calvert reported Monday that the jail had 100 prisoners in custody, with 38 being housed for the DOC, plus another 10 from the county who will be sent to DOC once the state prison system has sufficient space for them. The county jail holds 114 prisoners.

Tabor is hoping to call for a vote on the tax Aug. 14. He proposed that the half-cent tax be divided by two-thirds to jail operation and maintenance and one-third to the sheriff's office.

The authority includes the three county commissioners, Tabor, District 2 Commissioner Steve Carter, District 3 Commissioner Mike Huff, Sequoyah County Sheriff Johnny Philpot and Albert Marquez de la Plata of Vian.

The 114-bed county jail opened in October 2003. The jail was originally planned to open in July 2002, but construction and money problems extended the opening date by 15 months, while conflicts erupted among county officials over funding and operating the jail.