Lake County voters reject jail levy

Lake County voters on Tuesday soundly rejected a levy request to fund operations and an expansion of the county jail.

Unofficial results from the county election office Tuesday night showed that 4,638 votes were cast against the levy, with 2,446 for the levy.

The request was for $2.5 million annually for a period of 20 years.

A portion of that total, $1.5 million per year, was intended to fund construction of a new detention facility, which was estimated to cost up to $15 million. The other part of the request was for an additional $1 million per year for operating expenses for the expanded facility.

In addition to an expanded jail facility, the commissioners hoped to establish other jail diversion and mental-health programs, and increase monitoring devices for those who are released.

If the levy had passed, property owners would have seen a tax increase of approximately $50.40 per $100,000 of property value per year for 20 years.