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Navajo County representatives, including Supervisor Jason Whiting, County Manager Glenn Kephart and Sheriff David Clouse, spoke to the town councils of Taylor and Snowflake regarding the upcoming vote on the Jail District at a joint meeting on May 2.
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Whiting noted that after Proposition 419, the jail district proposal, failed last November, “We thought it was dead and gone away, but more than 40 leaders from around the county requested that we put it back on the ballot for Aug. 27 to reconsider it. I think it is important for our citizens to understand what it will entail.”
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Whiting emphasized, “The jail district does not go out and build a new jail, rather it provides funding for the jail costs, including the jail fees currently assessed to the cities and towns in Navajo County.”
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The proposed jail district would add one-third of a cent per dollar to all non-grocery purchases on goods in the cities, towns and unincorporated areas of the county, creating an estimated $3.5 million in taxes from which $1.05 million would be subtracted to cover the $600,000 for state retirement increases and $450,000 in jail fees no longer charged to the cities and towns.
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The net gain is an estimated $2.5 million, which will fund the day to day operations of the jail that currently costs the county $5.3 million annually as the single largest expense for public safety.
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The $2.5 million that would normally go from the general fund to the jail, would then be redirected back into the county budget, offsetting the $2.5 million loss from the Kayenta Mine and the Cholla Power Plant that Kephart detailed as, “We are losing $1.6 million in sales tax from the sale of coal and $900,000 in property tax.”
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Clouse said, “The biggest thing I have heard from last November until today was the question, does this money build a new jail? I am here to tell you that we have a good facility and this will not build a new jail.”
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Clouse also noted the elimination of jail fees would not only free up money for towns and cities, but would also give more freedom to make arrests. “Some of our cities and towns look at whether to arrest on a misdemeanor as a financial decision. Sometimes the concept of spending a night in jail might deter crime but with the cost of the jail fees, it doesn’t happen.”
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Clouse went on to say that as of July 1, he will lose seven deputies in the Sheriff’s Office. “If we don’t get the jail district tax, I will lose more. We have scaled down and are down to minimum staff. If we don’t have the coverage to help support each other, it could impact both sides greatly.”
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Snowflake Councilman Byron Lewis asked how long the tax would be on the books. Whiting responded, “Twenty years after which the voters would again decide. It builds a bridge for an economic solution. I am not in favor of raising property taxes and I am barely in favor of a sales tax.”
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Taylor Councilman Fay Hatch said, “These things never go away.”
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Whiting commented, “This is not a threat, but people need to understand that when you don’t have the money, you have to provide services very differently.
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“The county attorney is struggling to hire anyone,” Whiting shared. “They can’t pay enough money to keep the talent and when people realize the caseloads that they have to handle, they go to a different county and different job. Our citizens will not see justice.
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“The Treasurer’s Office is so low in numbers, that we can’t cut anymore,” Whiting said, as he continued to lay out the grim realities of what the county is currently facing. “We can’t keep up with the deposits, which forces the school districts to pull lines of credit if the money is not there and it could be sitting on a desk somewhere, but it can’t get into the bank because there aren’t enough people to make it happen.
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“Get informed. Don’t just look at the high level, generic conversation around the water cooler,” said Whiting. “I am perfectly okay with whatever the final decision is on the jail district.”
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Snowflake Vice Mayor Kerry Ballard noted, “Right now we are paying $40,000 a year for jail fees, but as we grow that will grow as well.”
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Whiting responded, “You need to talk with your chief of police and he will tell you they are making decisions on whether to book somebody based on costs. Ask the person who was robbed how fair that is.”
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Jack Babb, a resident of Taylor questioned Whiting when he said, “No one has ever discussed any other options that were looked at.”
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To which Whiting responded, “This has been an ongoing conversation for years. We have had to cut, cut, cut. We are not in a for-profit business and I don’t vote for raising taxes. There are no other options, we will just have to cut back on services.”
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