Columbia/Boone County voters will head to the polls in November to cast ballots on Proposition L.
It 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.
Sheriff Dwayne Carey says we’re in a crisis now with jail overcrowding. He called into 939 the Eagle’s “Sunday Morning with Ken and Brian”, telling listeners that Proposition L opponents Cheri Toalson Reisch and Susan Maze are providing erroneous information. The sheriff encourages you to call or text him with questions:
“I want them to call or text me. And this is how much I believe in it. I’m giving my personal cell phone out on the radio this morning. (573) 819-9122,” Sheriff Carey says.
Former State Rep. Cheri Toalson Reisch (R-Hallsville) and “No New Jail-Boone County” member Susan Maze were live in-studio on 939 the Eagle’s “Sunday Morning with Ken and Brian”. The former state lawmaker tells hosts Ken Rice and Brian Carl that while a new jail is needed, the county’s priorities have been backwards:
“They built a day care and a training center before they built a jail,” she says.
Boone County has already spent more than $2.1 million this year housing inmates out-of-county. That does not include overtime for transportation. Sheriff Carey says 400 of the 424 Boone County inmates are jailed for felony crimes. About 200 of them are in the Boone County jail, while the other 224 are in other county jails.
You can listen to the full interview, which includes the phone call from Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey to the hosts and two guests, here.