Raising Sales Tax to Build Jail
Because of a federal court order, we have been forced over the past 3 1/2 years to release more than 171,000 inmates back into the community after arrest or before the end of their sentences.
These releases affect every city in Orange County, from Yorba Linda to Santa Ana to Newport Beach to San Clemente. Public safety is at risk, and immediate action is needed to protect our families.
A half-cent sales tax would provide enough revenue to build and operate a new jail with approximately 3,000 to 4,000 beds. Those beds would allow law enforcement officers in Orange County to keep more gang members, drug dealers, drunk drivers and violent felons off the streets.
Without those beds, these lawbreakers will continue to thumb their noses at the law, secure in the knowledge that there is no room in the jails to hold them.
The time has come to allow the public to decide whether or not their safety is worth a half-cent. I am confident that given the facts, the voters will make the right decision.
BRAD GATES, Sheriff-Coroner
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