County Acts on Jail Tax : Supervisors Set Stage for Election

The Orange County Board of Supervisors, ending years of debate, today set the stage for a special election on raising county sales taxes to pay for new jails.

“This was a unanimous vote” to create a commission that will decide whether to have a special election, said Supervisor Roger R. Stanton. “This Board of Supervisors knows quite clearly what this is up here for. It’s up here in order to get a sales tax on the ballot by May.”

The vote today breaks a long stalemate on the question of a jail sales tax vote and for the first time makes such a referendum possible. The final decision on whether to put the referendum on the May 14 ballot will come from the Orange County Regional Justice Facilities Commission, to which the supervisors appointed two members today.

Sheriff Brad Gates was present for the board vote and afterward called it a crucial step toward resolving the county’s jail overcrowding crisis. More than 4,400 prisoners are being held in Orange County’s five jails, which were built to house 3,203.

“I’m very, very pleased,” Gates said after the session. “I’m a very optimistic, positive guy in my approach to solving problems, and I think we have the opportunity to educate the public that this is serious, and we need to solve it, and they’re the only ones that can give us an answer.”

Gates is a longtime supporter of building a new county jail in Gypsum Canyon, a controversial site about 10 miles east of downtown Anaheim. And while a half-cent sales tax may be able to fund other law enforcement-related services--new courts and juvenile facilities, for instance--Gypsum Canyon would undoubtedly be the main beneficiary of the tax revenue.

Nevertheless, Supervisors Gaddi H. Vasquez and Don R. Roth, both opponents of the Gypsum Canyon jail, joined in backing the appointments to the commission. In his remarks, Vasquez stressed that the revenue, if an election is successful, would not be limited to Gypsum Canyon.

“The legislation . . . also makes reference to courts and other criminal justice facilities,” Vasquez said. “The potential funding goes beyond just one facility.”

With the board’s appointments to the commission completed, attention will now shift to the League of Cities, Orange County Division. A special committee of the league will meet Feb. 15 to appoint its two members to the commission, and the whole body will meet later that day to appoint a fifth.

At that same, inaugural session of the commission, the five members will take up the sales tax vote, and they will have to resolve their deliberations quickly, as the deadline for scheduling the May 14 referendum is that afternoon.

Despite the haste with which the sales tax proposal has moved through the county bureaucracy, supporters believe the matter can be wrapped up by the Feb. 15 deadline.

“This is a problem that has been with us for 13 years,” Stanton said. “Tactical decisions that are being made this week should not be regarded as rushed. We have the time we need.”