Vote yes on jail bond issue question
Paying for new jail now will end need to pay for housing inmates elsewhere
During this year’s general election, Webster County voters are being asked if their county government should be allowed to borrow $45.5 million to pay for building a new jail that would replace the one in the downtown Law Enforcement Center.
The ballot question is specifically about that $45.5 million. But the issue before voters can be summed up as “pay me now or pay me later.”
The Sheriff’s Department is running that jail, but it is also spending hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to house inmates elsewhere because the local jail is too small to hold all of them. The county will continue to spend that money year after year as far as anyone can project unless something different is done.
Building a new Webster County Jail is the proposed strategy to change that scenario. So the voters are being asked to pay $45.5 million now or continue to shell out hundreds of thousands a year for decades to come with no end in sight.
There are other reasons for building a new jail. The safety of the jailers and the inmates in the current small jail that has limited visibility is a huge element supporting the argument for a new jail.
We believe that continuously paying hundreds of thousands for decades to house prisoners elsewhere is unsustainable.
And while $45.5 million is a big number, construction costs are likely to only increase. If sometime in the future the decision is made that a new jail must be built that number will be even higher. We believe it is better to just get it done now.
The current jail plan is not perfect. We are very disappointed that no one can say where the jail would be built. When Fort Dodge voters approved the bond issue to build the Rosedale Rapids Aquatics Center, they knew exactly where it would be built.
We are also concerned about the future of the Law Enforcement Center in downtown Fort Dodge. If the new jail is built, a big portion of that building would be empty. .
But The Messenger has come to the conclusion that the bond issue for building a new jail ought to be supported. We urge people to vote yes.