GARLAND COUNTY — Garland County Quorum Court members will soon consider a recommendation that the county bring a proposed temporary 1-cent sales-tax increase to the voters in order to build a new county jail.
The court received the recommendation for a new detention center from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee on May 2. The proposal includes building a new county jail that would house 476 prisoners and could be expanded to handle as many as 625 inmates.
Coordinating committee members suggested that the court call for the vote to be held Aug. 9 for the sales-tax increase that would raise as much as $40 million.
County Judge Gary Davis directed the proposal to the court’s Finance Committee. Committee Chairman Mickey Gates then forwarded the matter to the county Public Health, Welfare and Safety Committee and the Public Works and Buildings Committee.
When Davis took office in January, he told the Tri-Lakes Edition that several county buildings, including the Garland County Courthouse, needed repairs and improvements, but that the jail was the top priority.
“We’ve got to go to the public and educate them and see if they’ll pass a funding mechanism to build a new jail,” he said.
The county judge said he supports the proposal that the jail should be funded by a sales tax so that visitors to Hot Springs and Garland County can, in part, help pay for the facility.
Justice of the Peace Larry Griffin, who chairs the public health committee, said he is glad the county is taking action on the jail issue.
“We’ve only been working on this for over five years that I know about,” Griffin told the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record when the jail issue was assigned to his committee. “Everybody who’s been to the jail knows what kind of conditions we are dealing with over there. It’s not pretty.”
On Wednesday, Gates said his committee will soon give the Quorum Court a recommendation that the jail issue, with the 1-cent sales-tax increase, be placed on a ballot soon.
“We will be calling a special meeting, and we will go forward with that issue,” he said.
Gates said that he also agrees with the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee that funding for the operation and maintenance of the detention center be a separate issue.
The committee recommended that a 3/8-cent permanent sales-tax increase be implemented for the operation of a new jail once it is determined how large the detention facility will be and how much it will cost to operate.
Meanwhile, Garland County Sheriff Larry Sanders said that jail conditions, along with low pay, are impairing his department’s ability to hire and retain deputies, according to a story published by the Sentinel-Record.
Sanders recently told Quorum Court members that one deputy was leaving because of jail conditions, and an applicant turned down a job offer after touring the detention center.
“He didn’t feel comfortable after a walk-through of the jail, so he declined to come on board with us,” Sanders said.
The coordinating committee’s report to the court recommended three locations for the new facility: a 13-acre property on U.S. 270 east of Hot Springs, a site with 16.63 acres on Weston Road and a 24.6-acre property on Albert Pike Road.
Davis has said the coordinating committee’s role will now be to help educate Garland County voters about the need for the new jail.
Quorum Court members do not have a lot of time to call for the special voting if they want it to be held in August.
Arkansas election law prohibits more than one countywide election during any one month. County school elections are scheduled for September, so the next option would be for October voting.
Leslie Fisher also contributed to this article.