The voters of Webster County will decide this fall whether they think the county needs a new jail facility and whether the estimated $45.5 million price tag is worth it.

On Tuesday, the Webster County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution calling for an election on the proposed issuance of $45.5 million in general obligation bonds or general obligation capital loan notes for a new jail facility on Nov. 7.

For the last two and a half years, Webster County Sheriff Luke Fleener has worked with West Des Moines consulting firm The Samuels Group to look into whether Webster County needs a new jail or law enforcement center to replace the current one located at 702 First Ave. S., giving periodic updates to the Board of Supervisors.

Fleener has noted on multiple occasions that the county is paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to house Webster County Jail inmates in other counties’ jails because the jail on the third floor of the Law Enforcement Center is not meeting the needs. This fiscal year, for example, Fleener budgeted $300,000 just for the purpose of paying to house inmates elsewhere.

The project has gone through several design proposal options, with the most recent being a 31,000-square-foot facility that would have a maximum capacity of 132 beds. That design carries a roughly $38 million price tag, not including land acquisition. The proposed facility includes a space for the Webster County Sheriff’s Office.

Because of the amount of funds that the county would have to borrow to complete this project, it will have to first pass a public general obligation bond referendum, with at least 60 percent of voters casting their ballots in favor.

At the board’s meeting on July 5, it approved an agreement with The Samuels Group for a communications campaign to educate the voters of Webster County on the bond issue. The company will be paid $35,000.

The Samuels Group’s role will now be to work on a campaign to educate the voters of Webster County on what, exactly, their individual tax impact will be for this project. Plans include developing a database for residents to type in their address and get the actual dollar amount that their property taxes would be impacted by.