PAROWAN — The Iron County Commission has decided to backtrack on its recent decision to raise property taxes and will instead pursue the possibility of putting a bond proposal on the November ballot.
At its regular meeting on Monday, the commissioners voted 3-0 to repeal the vote they made on Aug. 22 to raise the county general fund’s portion of the property tax rate from 0.000837 to 0.00167, a move that would have generated an estimated $5.95 million in additional annual revenue, 85% of which would have gone toward the construction of a new county jail and sheriff’s complex.
Commissioner Paul Cozzens said there will be another public meeting regarding the issue on Thursday, Aug. 31, at Cedar City’s Festival Hall, at 6:30 p.m.
“We were going to use the theater last time, but they had a play going on in there,” Cozzens said. “And so this time, we’d like everybody (to come) that came last time, and more. I think it has like 1,000 seats.”
The theater’s larger space, along with its new projector and large screen, should provide a better venue to continue the discussion from two weeks ago, Cozzens said. A variety of options will be discussed, including the feasibility of remodeling the existing jail, building either a one-pod or a two-pod facility and even taking no action.
“If the public wants to do nothing and kick this down the road and have prices, inflation keep going up, we can talk about all those options, and then we’ll have a vote,” Cozzens added.
If the commissioners pass a resolution indicating they intend to pursue a general obligation bond, the deadline to get that information to the Lieutenant Governor’s office is Sept. 7.
During Monday’s public comment period, more than a dozen people, several of whom had also spoken during the Aug. 15 meeting, then weighed in again on the issue, each taking a couple minutes to voice their concerns and ask questions.
Among them was Susan Sepe, who had been organizing a signature-gathering campaign to get a referendum on the ballot. Sepe asked the commissioners if raising taxes via truth in taxation was now off the table.
“Well, it’s always an option, but after today, we plan to vote to rescind that, OK, and move to a general obligation (bond),” Cozzens replied.
When Sepe asked, “What happens to our referendum?” Cozzens replied, “We saved you a whole lot of work.”
Other commenters asked whether other methods might be used to raise the funds. The idea of a “consumption tax” was mentioned, but county officials noted that there is no mechanism in place allowing that to happen, unless a change in state law is made by the Utah Legislature.
“Yeah, that is an option that we are looking into,” Iron County Auditor Lucas Little said in response. “Who knows how long it would take the Legislature to do that?”
Commissioner Mike Bleak noted that, despite rumors to the contrary, the county still has the bulk of the $20 million it saved for the future jail project several years ago.
“That $20 million is not gone,” Bleak said. “I don’t know exactly where we are with that, how much is in there now, because we’re continually spending that, but we still have a significant amount of that $20 million. It’s paid for preconstruction, it’s paid for architecture, it’s paid for the land purchase. And we’ll continue to do that without having to ask for money from the taxpayer on a bond payment for those types of things.”
Contacted via phone for clarification on Tuesday, Little confirmed that approximately $18 million remains in that savings account.
Also during the meeting, Lt. Shalon Shaver, commander of the Iron County Jail, addressed some of the logistical challenges of the current facility.
“We have a 265-bed facility right now, and when we get to about 180, we’re busting at the seams,” she said. “And the reason why is because back in 1987, when they built this facility, they didn’t have a serious need for classification issues.”
Not only does the jail have significantly more female inmates than the four it was originally designed to house, but Shaver said other segregation requirements limit inmate placement.
“We have minimum, medium and maximum security,” she said. “We have co-defendants that can’t be around each other. We have a lot of medical and mental health needs.”
Shaver also touted the pod design being proposed for the new jail, where the cell-lined hallways would radiate from the central command post like spokes on a wheel.
“They have 24 beds per little pie shape,” she said. “That, to me, is like Christmas, because I have the option to be able to segregate who needs to be segregated. And, it’s safer for my officers.”
The new design would also be better for the inmates’ mental health, she added.
“So you say, ‘Why can’t we have the inmates in cages?’” Shaver asked. “Let me address this. So there are some inmates that have committed crazy, violent crimes in there. But I can tell you this, both of my dads have been in that facility, all right? … These are people’s moms, brothers, cousins … I mean, we’re gonna put them in cages and say poop in a trench? That doesn’t work. We have civil rights that we have to accommodate.”
Just before 1 p.m., the final commenter addressed the commission and said, “Just wanted to thank you all for listening to us.” Then, turning to the audience, he added, “And thank you, all of you, for showing up because it’s making a difference.”
During his earlier remarks, Cozzens had called the issue “a real challenge.”
“This jail issue has been kicked down the road long enough. These are tough decisions,” Cozzens said. “As commissioners, we didn’t wake up one morning say, hey, let’s raise taxes! That’s not what we did. We’ve been talking about a new jail for a long time.”
“I’ve been in public service for 13 years,” he added. “This has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
“We all should realize, folks, that this problem is not going away. The need for a new jail, this isn’t going away. You guys can throw us out of office, which is fine. You can do whatever you want, but these problems aren’t going away. It’s going to keep getting more expensive every year.”
After the repeal vote was taken, Cozzens thanked those in attendance for coming and encouraged them to show up again on Thursday evening.
“We’d love to have more people come,” he said. “We really appreciate the dialogue today. I think it has been very productive.”
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