Jail tax helps keep costs low for residents

By now, most voters have received a ballot asking to continue a ¼ cent sales tax to fund the Yavapai County Detention Center in Camp Verde for the next 20 years.

The mail-in ballots are due Tuesday, May 15.

As Ron Eland reported in January, 48 percent of the jail’s $18.1 million budget comes from the ¼ cent sales tax, first implemented in 2000. The county’s general fund covers 43 percent, with the rest covered by a number of smaller sources. Nearly 70 percent of the budget pays for corrections officers and support staff.

Capital improvements, including jail expansion, come from a separate fund.

The jail tax also helps fund mental health diver­sion programs, mobile crisis response teams and a Crisis Stabilization Unit developed with mental health providers; early disposition court to resolve criminal cases and reduce the number of suspects awaiting trial; pre-trial release and diversion programs to release nonviolent suspects sooner; prosecution and sentencing programs that reduce recidivism; programs to identify and transfer undocumented felony suspects to federal custody; privatization of jail medical services; using civilian staff and volunteers instead of using most costly certified detention officers to perform routine tasks; suspect co-pay to offset food and medical costs; a Behavioral Health Unit to transfer suspects with mental health issues to treatment facilities; veterans courts; and a release program connecting suspects with mental health treatment providers upon release.

Suspects arrested throughout the county are taken to the Yavapai County Detention Center in Camp Verde, including those arrested in the Verde Valley and the Yavapai County side of Sedona, while those arrested on the Coconino side of the city and Oak Creek Canyon are transported to the Coconino County Jail in Flagstaff. The Coconino County jail tax is a ½ cent, twice that of Yavapai County.

Prior to the tax, towns and cities like Camp Verde, Cottonwood, Jerome, Clarkdale and Sedona had to pay the monthly cost of each inmate arrested in each munici­pality. Yavapai County Administrator Phil Bourdon said on Jan. 9 it costs $140 per inmate per day plus an initial $350 booking fee, so one suspect held 30 days prior to trial would cost the municipality $4,550. The annual costs per town could run in the hundreds of thousands, and bigger cities like Prescott and Prescott Valley could top $1 million.

With the tax in place, the county waives all these fees and houses suspects in the county jail at no cost.

The jail tax offsets the cost the county could impose on towns to house inmates. Without the tax, the proba­bility of a countywide property tax to fund the jail might be inevitable. A property tax would be imposed solely on residents, but a sales tax is paid for by residents and millions of tourists who pass through Yavapai County and the Verde Valley every year, reducing the overall cost to residents.

Another fear among officials is that cash-strapped towns and cities might run the risk of deciding whether or not to send suspects to jail or opt instead to release them to save costs for other services, like water and sewer line maintenance, parks, new roads and repairs to existing streets or cuts to police protection.

While some may think the jail is filled with suspects arrested for DUIs or minor nonviolent drug offenses like marijuana possession or paraphernalia, nearly all of these suspects are released after posting bail or on their own recognizance, according to Yavapai County Sheriff’s Capt. Jeff Newnum, who oversees the facility. Only 4 percent of jail inmates are suspects in misde­meanor crimes, staying for an average of four days.

The other 96 percent are felony suspects incarcerated are varying levels of low to high risk. Forty percent of them are being held without bond, per a judge’s order.

The county averages 579 inmates every day at the 515- bed facility. Of those beds, 130 are reserved for female suspects, kept separated from male suspects. The jail staff also separates members of rival gang members to prevent violence in the jail as well as separating alleged sex offenders and suspects suffering from mental illness from the general population.

The ballot measure does not add any new tax, nor does it increase the current rate; it only extends the current sales tax county residents have paid for the last two decades.

We urge all voters to vote “yes” and approve extending the ¼ cent sales tax another 20 years.

Christopher Fox Graham

Managing Editor