While voters in the General Election will have another deluge of legislature referrals to look forward to Tuesday, Nov. 3, Yavapai County voters will also decide how they want to fund the county jails.

Yavapai County is in the middle of a push to inform voters about Proposition 497, which they will weigh in on on the November ballot. The county is seeking to double the current Jail District sales tax from a quarter-cent to a half-cent.

Supervisor and Vice Chairwoman Nikki Check [D-District 3], County Manager Phil Bourdon and Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Jeff Newnum stopped by the Cottonwood City Council on Sept. 1, and to Sedona City Council on Tuesday, Sept. 8 — after press time — to discuss what the increase would fund and how it could affect county operations.

“The existing 1/4 cent Jail District sales tax is not sufficient to pay the cost of the Jail District,” the proposition’s descriptive title reads. “The estimated future revenue needs for the Jail District are $41.44 million per year and will likely increase over time due to inflation and population growth. The county will be required to contribute $8.88 million next year to the Jail District from the county General Fund as legally required ‘maintenance of effort,’ and will need to contribute an additional $16.15 million from the county General Fund to pay the cost of the Jail District.”

If approved, the new tax rate would go into effect on July 1, 2027, and be in place for 20 years.

The county has predicated its pitch on three points: Eliminating the $16.15 million the county transfers to the Jail District each year on top of its required “maintenance of effort,” making visitors pay their “fair share” of jail service since “23% of our inmate population today, come from outside the county,” Newnum said, to the Cottonwood City, and that there’s potential to lower the regular property tax burden for Yavapai County residents.

“We’ve been talking about, I think, about a $4 million decrease out of the primary property tax levy,” Check said. “But I’m just one board member, and those discussions haven’t quite happened yet, but we’re starting to map out what that would mean, and we’re certainly at least on my part, dedicated to doing as much as we can in that department to to give a leg up to our property owners.”

However, Check said that the board can not promise future action, but that the individual supervisors have made the case for lowering property taxes.

“You can either pay for the jail, the $41 million, predominantly out of your property tax, and make the burden be on the property owners, or you can increase the sales tax, and bring in more revenue from tourism and other ways to offset that general fund to bring down that property tax ask,” Newnum said.

Yavapai County’s jail population ranges between 400 and 460 daily, Newnum said with the Yavapai County Detention Center in Camp Verde at roughly 80% operational capacity and the Yavapai County Jail in Prescott at 100%. That’s down from about 650 in 2015, a drop Newnum credited to YCSO’s recidivism programs.

“Our statistics from back in 2017, before these programs began, was around 39% of the people that were released from jail returned,” YCSO Cmdr. Eric Stumpf said to Verde Village residents on Thursday, Sept. 3. “So they were being released, committing a new crime, and coming back, we track that statistic very carefully now, and in July, our recidivism rate was 17.5%.

Check told Verde Village residents that should would like to see the property tax levy decreased in the county’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget if Prop. 497 passes.

“The Board of Supervisors, when originally asking the voters to establish and approve the initial sales tax that came into effect in 2000, set it at a quarter cent, which was below the statutory allowable amount,” Bourdon said. “They did that trying to be as conservative as possible to try to keep as little cost to the taxpayers as possible. Again, what we found is the quarter cent is not addressing the needs of our jail and our jail system.”

For more information visit yavapaivotes.gov.