Commissioners approve levy to pay for jail expansion

Property taxes will go up across Lake County in November due to a $3.8 million judgement levy passed last week by the county commissioners to help cover the costs of expanding and remodeling the jail.

The judgement levy was unanimously approved at the close of a public hearing on July 29, attended by a handful of constituents and several county employees.  

As part of the settlement in a class-action lawsuit brought by inmates, the county was ordered to add around 960 square feet of additional space to ease overcrowding in the jail, located in the basement of the courthouse, as well as provide a secure outdoor recreation yard.

Since those fixes were mandated as part of the lawsuit, the county has the authority to pass a three-year judgement levy, without voter approval, to pay for them. According to Lake County Finance Officer Tara Barry, the levy will cost taxpayers an estimated $15.70 per $100,000 in market value, or $47.11 on a house valued at $300,000 and $94.23 on a house valued at $600,000.

Predictably, the move to increase property taxes was unpopular. Tracy Sharp, who is running for a seat in the House of Representatives, asked the commissioners to explore “innovative ways” to solve the issues at the detention center, such as cutting costs or seeking additional jail space from what he called the “tribal corporation.”

“I don't see how we can continue to keep going back to the well of the property tax,” he said. “You have many people here on fixed incomes, people who have decided to retire here. They can't keep paying and paying and paying.”

The commissioners opted to meet the settlement requirements by building an annex southwest of the courthouse, which will house several county departments, including elections, planning and environmental health, county superintendent of schools, as well as technology-based services such as Geographic Information Systems used for mapping, and IT. Construction on the annex began last spring and completion is slated for summer of 2025.

By moving the elections office to the new building, the county frees up space in the courthouse basement to house additional inmates. At the same time, work is underway on a secure, 1,500-square foot outdoor recreation yard adjacent to the jail. That has a price-tag of around $1 million.

In addition, the county was ordered to pay $189,300 in legal fees from the court settlement – $132,500 to the plaintiffs' legal team, Upper Seven Law, and $56,800 for the county's portion of the remaining legal costs (part of which were covered by the Montana Association of Counties). The county is also replacing several servers that were confiscated as evidence in the court case at a cost of around $34,600.

According to Barry, the overall costs associated with the settlement are about $6.5 million.  

“There was some discussion among the commissioners about whether or not to accept this settlement agreement. Yet the alternative to not accepting it was going to be more legal costs and also potentially going to trial,” said Commissioner Gale Decker. “In our opinion, we felt that this was the cheapest and the most logical way for the commissioners to move forward.”

The new annex will cost about $7 million, of which $2.3 million is related to settlement costs and will be paid by the levy passed last week. In early July, the commissioners also authorized borrowing $2 million for the new building. Financing for the project also comes from other sources, including the general fund and America Rescue Plan Act dollars.

The cost of remodeling the jail is currently estimated at $2 million, which would be assessed to taxpayers in a second levy expected to be passed in three years – after the current levy expires.

Barry emphasizes that the amount and duration of the second levy is uncertain, although by law it can’t exceed three years. “Of course, we will try to keep the interest cost as low as we can too on the second phase,” she said.

Decker noted that adding the outdoor recreation yard will actually enhance jail safety by allowing the detention center staff to move entire pods of prisoners to the outside space in order to thoroughly clean and inspect cells on a regular basis.

Commissioner Bill Barron pointed out that incarceration rates for women have increased too, and the jail expansion will provide a more secure area for those inmates, as well as extra beds for those jailed for misdemeanor offenses.

He also noted that the overall cost of the annex and jail expansion – estimated at $10 million – was considerably cheaper than the 20-year, $50 million levy for a new detention center that voters turned down a few years ago.

“That's a huge savings to the taxpayer, and it's something that we've put a lot of thought and discussion into,” he said.