MORE THAN 62% OF PLATTE COUNTY VOTERS OPPOSED
Both Platte County questions pertaining to a proposed new jail were defeated by voters on Tuesday, with a proposed 20-year half cent jail sales tax losing in overwhelming fashion.
Voters crushed the proposed half cent sales tax, with 11,070 (62.40%) opposed to only 6,669 (37.6%) in favor.
The defeat of the sales tax made an accompanying $85 million bond issue question irrelevant, but even the bonds failed to get approval from voters. The general obligation bonds required a 57.14% approval for passage, and fell short of that. The final tally on the bond question was 53.7% in favor to 46.3% opposed. The sales tax was needed to serve as a funding mechanism for the bond issue. Both ballot questions needed approval for the project to move forward.
Missouri state law requires general obligation bonds to receive a 4/7th super majority of yes votes, or 57.14%, to be approved.
Voter turnout on Tuesday was just short of 27% on a pleasant early August day. Election officials had predicted a turnout of around 32%.
The proposed new half cent sales tax would have run for 20 years and would have generated a county-estimated $408 in tax revenue. It would have been the largest tax increase in Platte County history. Some of the sales tax revenue would have been used to pay the bonds but the vast majority of the $408 million would have gone to operation of a proposed 471-bed jail in Downtown Platte City.
The project would have taken the jail from its current capacity of 180 beds to 471 beds. The expansion would have been constructed on what is now an employee parking lot at the northwest corner of the current county buildings.
Tuesday’s jail tax result is strikingly similar to the result from a 2019 jail sales tax question. In April of 2019, county voters turned down a half cent sales tax for a jail by the same count of 62% opposed to 38% in favor. Voter turnout was 10 percent less in April of 2019 than it was this week.
Rob Willard, treasurer for Platte County who made public his opposition to the county’s 20-year jail tax plan, had this to say when the results were in Tuesday night: “The defeat of the jail tax is not cause for celebration. The detention center requires renovation and expansion. I’ve supported this principle for years but I could not support this plan.”
Willard went on to say he is “confident that we will find a plan that works and is fiscally responsible and protects Platte County.”
Joe Vanover, second district county commissioner, told the Kansas City Star on Tuesday night that he was “shocked” by Tuesday’s overwhelming rejection by voters. On Wednesday morning he declined to comment on the outcome when reached by The Landmark.
Vanover said the new sales tax for jail operations would have generated a projected $332 million for the jail and its operation over 20 years, plus another $76 million in new use tax revenue over that same time period. The use tax is applied to online and out of state purchases.
Those projections were based on a three percent sales tax revenue growth rate year-over-year, Vanover said.
The new sales tax would have been in addition to an already-existing quarter cent sales tax for “operation of law enforcement” approved by voters in 2020.
The current jail now is equipped to house 180 beds for inmates. Sheriff Mark Owen has said inmate population has peaked at 240. But overall, the average daily inmate population in the jail dropped last year. The average daily population of the jail in the year 2023 was 194 inmates, which is down from 214 average daily population in 2022. These inmate population figures were reported at a meeting of a committee appointed to study the jail situation last fall.
In addition, numbers from Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd indicate prosecutions of crimes has dropped in the county. Felony prosecutions are down by 14% compared to two years ago. Misdemeanor prosecutions dropped by a whopping 36% last year. Some of that is likely due to the fact possession of marijuana is no longer a crime in Missouri.
In May when the commission approved putting the jail tax question on the ballot, Vanover said: “The jail we built 26 years ago is full and we have done everything we can to help people stay out of jail such as increased house arrest and treatment court. Platte County needs a solution that will get us through the next 25 years. Expanding and improving the detention center will let us better segregate violent and sexual offenders and provide mental health care and educational opportunities for inmates. All that we have done to build up law enforcement and public safety will fall apart if we don’t have a jail that is large enough to house the people that need to be there.”
The architect’s proposal called for “a three story addition.” The lower level would have been dedicated to intake, detention administration and jail support. The first and second levels would have featured 160 beds per level, with seven classifications per level.
Plans indicate the facility would have included things such as expanded education and rehab rooms, separate wing for medical, mental health and suicide watch, a detention command and administration office, and a modern evidence processing area.
Expanded laundry and kitchen facilities were planned in the basement of the current facility, in what has been known as the “futures” area.
HMN Architects, an Overland Park firm that has designed several jails in Missouri, was awarded a design contract for the Platte County Detention Center at the end of 2023.
The recommendation from the county commission-appointed Committee for Public Safety last fall didn’t mention including operation costs in a ballot proposal. The committee’s report to the county commission said:
“The committee recommends that the Platte County Commission authorize a basic construction proposal to build a ‘stacked’ addition to the current jail on the county property on the northwest corner of the current county buildings, with 312 new beds in addition to the existing 152 beds for a total of 464 beds in at least 13 pods built in the same general arrangement as the current cells, day rooms, and security hub. Expansion of service areas, including kitchen, laundry, holding areas and attorney-client meeting rooms to be included.”
The committee’s report went on to say “the committee further recommends that the commission submit a proposal to voters of the county to adopt a sales tax to expire in 10 years at either 1/4th of a cent or 3/8th of a cent rates, as the commission chooses.”
County commissioners entered into a contract with Parson & Associates to conduct an “educational campaign” about the proposal. The agreement with Parson & Associates cost taxpayers at least $79,200, and up to $84,200, according to terms of the contract.
In addition to up to $84,200 in taxpayer dollars for “voter education,” a political action committee that listed its address as the home address of Platte County Presiding Commissioner Scott Fricker, on their last financial report had at least $14,000 to spend on a “vote yes” campaign that included mailers and signs.
Meanwhile, there was no organized opposition to the jail tax questions and opponents spent zero dollars.
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