Cuyahoga County Council approved Thursday a .25% sales tax extension for the next 40 years, securing a funding source for the new county jail.
After months of back and forth between Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne and the county council about the site of the jail, council members in September greenlit the $38.7 million purchase of a 72-acre site located off of I-480 and Transportation Boulevard. At that time, council members pushed off the passage of the sales tax extension for further discussion, leaving the new jail site without a major funding source.
The entire project is estimated to cost $750 million. County Council President Pernel Jones said the sales tax will bring in enough money for the new jail, courthouse and enough surplus to maintain those facilities.
"It’s a good thing because... our current facility has reached the end of its useful life," Jones told Ideastream. "We're going to create a more humane environment and building for those being held within."
On the campaign trail in 2022, Ronayne said he believed residents should get to vote on a sales tax extension: a comment he appeared to walk back on in June when he proposed the tax extension legislation. Ronayne told Ideastream he previously wanted to bring the tax extension up for a vote because he opposed the Transport Road jail site, which is no longer under consideration.
"This [Garfield Heights] site was very carefully chosen," he said. "Today, I’m confident and comfortable with the moves that were made to move on a new jail site, build wraparound services… and to build new courthouses."
Jones said this was a decision he felt comfortable council should move ahead with without voter input as members are representatives of their constituents.
Ronayne said the quick movement on the legislation was necessarily to lock in rising construction costs and secure labor and will ultimately save taxpayers money in the long run.
