Just over a week ago, five Iowa counties had similar countywide public measures on their ballots for the Nov. 7 city/school election, asking voters to approve general obligation bonds to fund the construction or renovation of county jail and law enforcement facilities.

All but one of these bond issues passed.

Webster County’s Public Measure VS asked voters whether the county government should take out $45.5 million in general obligation bonds to construct a new facility for the Webster County Jail and Webster County Sheriff’s Office.

The new jail proposal aimed to solve several problems that have arisen over the last several decades with the existing jail, including overcrowding, safety concerns, aging equipment and facilities and the rising cost of housing overflow inmates in other county jails.

The proposal was for a 60,692-square-foot facility that would house both the jail and the Sheriff’s Office. The jail would have 61 general population cells double bunked and eight special needs cells with one bunk, totaling 130 beds. The facility would also include space for jail administration, Sheriff’s Office administration, patrol, investigations and civil processing. The $45.5 million price tag included the cost of buying the 15 acres needed for the project, as well as the cost of construction.

However, the measure failed to receive the 60 percent of yes votes it needed to pass, falling short by just 266 votes.

The measure received 2,835 yes votes, or 54.86 percent, and 2,333 no votes, or 45.14 percent.

Of the 18 precincts and absentee/early voting bloc, the jail bond received more yes votes in all but five — Fort Dodge 6, Fort Dodge 9, Burnside/Elkhorn/Otho/Pleasant Valley/Sumner, Clay/Fulton/Johnson/Roland and Colfax/Hardin/Washington/Webster/Yell. Those precincts cover nearly the entire southern half of the county, except for Gowrie and Dayton’s precincts, as well as much of Fort Dodge’s southside.

Webster County saw a roughly 21 percent turnout of registered voters on Nov. 7.

In total, 5,168 of those registered voters cast their ballots either on Election Day or through absentee voting.

Similar public measures on the ballots in Greene, Osceola, Page and Pocahontas counties easily passed on Nov. 7.

Greene County

Greene County’s $10 million bond referendum will fund a new 20-bed jail facility. The public measure passed with 63 percent and 1,412 yes votes. It received 839 no votes.

Osceola County

In Osceola County, voters approved a $5 million bond referendum to fund the renovation of the existing law enforcement center with a new 18-bed jail addition.

The Osceola County public measure passed with 65 percent with 762 yes votes and 413 no votes.

Page County

The Page County Jail project includes a new $16.7 million, 19,733-square-foot facility that would house the jail, sheriff’s office and 911 dispatch center. The jail will have 38 general population beds and five special needs cells with single beds.

The Page County jail vote passed by 68 percent with 2,275 yes votes, and 1,086 no votes.

Pocahontas County

Pocahontas County is planning an 18-bed jail and law enforcement center to replace the existing 100-year old jail. On the ballot was a public measure for $8.5 million general obligation bonds.

The Pocahontas County jail vote passed by 70 percent with 1,131 yes votes. The measure received just 485 no votes.

Of the five counties with the similar public measures on the ballot, Webster County saw the lowest voter turnout with 21 percent. Osceola County had a 29 percent turnout, while Page County had a 33 percent turnout, Pocahontas County had 34 percent and Greene County had 36 percent.

Looking ahead

In the last five years, Webster County has spent $1.5 million in housing and transportation costs for overflow inmates. For the current fiscal year, external housing costs for inmates account for $350,000 of the Sheriff’s Office budget. Webster County Sheriff Luke Fleener expects that number to increase to $400,000 for the next fiscal year.

Fleener said the Webster County Sheriff’s Office and Jail will continue managing with the existing facility’s shortcomings as best they can.

“I don’t perceive the outsourcing of our inmates or costs going down, so at some point, the citizens will decide that they don’t want to pay other counties,” he told The Messenger following the election. “The unfortunate part is the costs aren’t going to go away — we’re still going to have to pay other people to house our inmates. At some point we’ll have to address it (again).”

No plans have been made on if or when the issue would be brought to the voters again.

By the numbers

FD #1 — 288 yes, 192 no

FD #2 — 150 yes, 103 no

FD #3 — 117 yes, 107 no

FD #4/Douglas Twp. — 197 yes, 163 no

FD #5 — 64 yes, 30 no

FD #6 — 21 yes, 27 no

FD #7 and #8 — 106 yes, 89 no

FD #9 — 85 yes, 94 no

FD #10 — 167 yes, 97 no

FD #11 — 303 yes, 233 no

FD #12 — 97 yes, 82 no

Badger/Cooper/Newark Twp. — 161 yes, 139 no

Burnside/Elkhorn/Otho/Pleasant Valley/Sumner Twp. — 247 yes, 257 no

Clay/Fulton/Johnson/Roland Twp. — 115 yes, 134 no

Colfax/Hardin/Washington/Webster/Yell Twp. — 74 yes, 81 no

Dayton — 125 yes, 94 no

Deer Creek/Jackson Twp. — 61 yes, 47 no

Gowrie/Lost Grove Twp. — 207 yes, 134 no

Absentee/Early voting — 250 yes, 230 no