Boone County’s presiding commissioner is touting the importance of Proposition L in November, saying the county is spending millions of dollars to house inmates out-of-county.
Proposition L calls for adding three-eighths-of a cent to the county’s current one-eighth cent law enforcement sales tax to fund a new county jail. Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick says it cost the county about $500,000 annually to to do it from 2017-2022:
“2025, that cost jumped up to $2.56 million that we’re just paying other counties. And in the first half of 2026 this year we are already at $2.12 million spent,” Kendrick says.
About 200 inmates are currently at the Boone County jail, which is 35-years old. Another 230 are housed in 14 other county jails in Missouri. Presiding Commissioner Kendrick spoke Saturday morning in-studio on 939 the Eagle’s “CEO Roundtable” and highlighted the importance of Proposition L in November:
“You know those numbers that I gave you on out-of-county expenditures, those don’t include overtime for transportation. That’s purely what we’re paying other counties,” he says.
Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey says we’re in a crisis situation now with the current jail due to overcrowding.
Commissioner Kendrick and host Mike Murphy also discussed the county budget, Boone Health, gravel roads and the purchase of an animal hospital during the one-hour interview. You can listen to the full interview here.