San Diego

A City Council committee has authorized City Manager John Lockwood to proceed with plans to build a temporary pre-arraignment jail that could hold as many as 200 arrestees.

The council’s Public Services and Safety Committee on Wednesday authorized the manager’s office to apply for the estimated $3 million to $4 million needed annually to build and operate the jail for three years. The proposal requires a vote of the full council, which is scheduled to hear the plan in the next few weeks.

The money would come from the $1.6 billion in revenue to be generated over the next decade by voter approval last June of a half-cent increase in the county sales tax.

However, the money is currently tied up by a Superior Court lawsuit filed by opponents of the tax, who contend that the levy violates Proposition 13 and other laws requiring a two-thirds vote for approval of new taxes.

The jail is envisioned as a privately operated facility for misdemeanor suspects who are currently released before their arraignments because of overcrowding in county jails. No site for the facility has been chosen.

According to statistics released during last year’s campaign for the sales-tax increase, jail crowding resulted in the immediate release of more than 100 people every day, some of whom had committed crimes such as assault and battery or carrying a concealed and loaded firearm.