There’s a half-billion-dollar public safety bond on Salt Lake County ballots this November. While it’s a big chunk of change, county leaders say it’ll protect the community and save money in the long run.
Despite the bipartisan support, critics don’t buy it.
If the bond fails, Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson said the county will need to head back to the drawing board and another option is likely to be more expensive.
“We really need this investment. We’re hoping the public understands that we know conservatives and liberals alike and everyone in between recognizes that we need more investment in our county system,” she said.
What would the bond do?
The main project the bond supports is the construction of the Justice and Accountability Center, a lower security facility housed in the same complex as the Salt Lake County Metro Jail. Mayor Wilson envisions the center as a place for people who have committed “minor offenses and are nonviolent,” which includes many of the county’s unhoused population.
“This is a center that will allow for wraparound services, some housing support, mental health services and will allow people, frankly, who need to be held accountable because there are actions that are breaking the law and they need a safe place to be,” Wilson said.
Other goals of the center include job training and substance abuse treatment.
The county also hasn’t added a single jail bed since 2001, despite significant population growth. Part of the bond would add more than 800 new jail beds, with some reserved strictly for mental health needs. It would also pay for maintenance and facility improvements while closing the nearby Oxbow Jail, which is operated out of necessity.
What are the costs?
If approved by voters, the average household would pay an additional $68.94 a year in property taxes. Businesses would pay $107.61 a year over a 25-year period. Wilson and supportive county council members say the bond is the most cost effective way to address the criminal justice issues they’ve outlined.
“The problem if we don’t spend the money now is we will pay for it later, both in terms of aging infrastructure and the recidivism that occurs by not addressing the problem,” Wilson said at an Oct. 25 press conference in support of the bond.
Who is in support?
In a bipartisan 8-1 vote, the Salt Lake County Council sent the bond to residents. Republican Gov. Spencer Cox called it a “critical investment” to address “the complex challenges of public safety, homelessness, mental and behavioral health and housing.”
While elected officials are highlighting the services provided by the Justice and Accountability Center, the bond in front of voters simply pays for the construction. It doesn’t pay for services.
Wilson said the center “will be largely reliant on Medicaid dollars for the operations of that facility.”
Democratic Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said the bond is about the future of the county. She said the jail books more than 30,000 people a year and many are repeat offenders. The bond targets the population “that needs help with housing, help with finding jobs.”
“We need another solution and this is our alternative to help people become successful and never have to come back to our jail again,” Rivera said.
Jessica Thesing, deputy director of the Downtown Alliance, is also in support of the bond on behalf of businesses in downtown Salt Lake City. A top priority for business owners downtown, she said, is the “safety of employees, customers and visitors,” which she believes the bond provides.
“The bond comes with a modest cost, around $9 a month for the average business. Its long term benefits far outweigh the investment,” Thesing said. “In addition to helping people in need, these initiatives also support social stability and minimize business disruptions caused by crime and trespassing.”
What do critics say?
At first glance of his ballot, Josh Kivlovitz, a volunteer with the Salt Lake Community Bail Fund, thought the bond looked appealing. The money for increased mental health services, substance abuse treatment and the center sounded “too good to be true.”
“It turns sour when you realize that this Justice and Accountability Center is just another name for a jail,” he said. “It’s still a secure facility that people are being arrested and jailed in and don’t have the ability to come and go.”
To Kivlovitz, the bond could be better spent on the promised future services “outside of a secure facility where people aren’t having to be arrested and jailed in order to access it.”
When KUER asked Wilson if the center was another jail and if people seeking services could opt-in without arrest, she said the county is “working through the operational plan around that.”
“As we open up the facility, we’ll be looking at the population that is committing nuisance crimes,” the mayor said. “That’s the targeted population.”
Kivlovitz believes those “nuisance crimes,” like riding TRAX without a ticket or sleeping in a public place, could be dealt with outside of the criminal justice system instead of using the center to “incarcerate people that are committing these crimes of poverty.”
“We’re spending money to create space to remove people who are experiencing homelessness and poverty off of the street, but we’re not actually addressing the reasons that they’re in poverty in the first place,” he said. “Instead, we’re just building a big facility that is likely not actually going to help address [the] deficit of resources in our community.”
Wilson’s Republican opponent in the election, Erin Rider, is also against the bond. She believes residents will be asked to foot more of the bill in the future, especially once construction is complete.
“There are likely going to be additional taxes necessary to support the actual operation of this facility because this bond only covers the infrastructure development itself. It doesn’t cover the operational side,” Rider said during the Oct. 2 county mayoral debate.