Jail Measure Will Have to Be Clear : * O.C. voters will support a tax hike when they agree with the goals

The Orange County Board of Supervisors proved that it could move with dispatch when it put on the May 14 ballot a sales tax proposal to build new jail facilities. Now it must show that same alacrity in providing voters with the information they need to make a wise decision.

Measure J--as it was named last week--would increase sales taxes by half a cent to provide new facilities aimed at relieving jail overcrowding. The problem has led to the discharge of about 50,000 people a year in cite-and-release and early-release programs. The county has been under a court order to reduce overcrowding since 1978.

Sheriff Brad Gates, armed with a Times poll indicating that a half-cent sales tax for jails has near-majority support among voters, has been the driving force in getting the board to put Measure J on the May ballot. Many obstacles were cleared to schedule the countywide election to coincide with a 35th state Senate District vote to replace John Seymour (R-Anaheim), who was appointed to the U.S. Senate.

But the board still has provided too little leadership. It voted nearly four years ago, 3 to 2, to build a new jail in Gypsum Canyon. However, lacking the fourth vote needed to condemn the land because the owner does not want to sell, the board did little else until Gates forced the matter.

The board must now do more than throw the ball to voters. If it is serious about wanting the issue resolved, it first must clear up the confusion over Gypsum Canyon. Voters showed in last year’s passage of Measure M--the half-cent sales tax increase for transportation--that they want to know exactly where their money goes. That same principle holds true for Measure J: Even if not spelled out on the ballot, people will want to know beforehand where facilities will go and how much they will cost.

But while ballot arguments that mention Gypsum Canyon have been submitted by proponents, the commission still must detail in a master plan what facilities will be built. That plan does not have to be completed before the election but should be.

Nor has the position of lawyer Wylie A. Aitken, the public member of the commission, helped clarify matters. Aitken, of Anaheim Hills, has assumed neutrality, which may lend an air of impartiality to the committee’s work, but it leaves the public uncertain about a site.

Gates, meanwhile, has wooed support from cities by suggesting that they may be relieved of a controversial jail booking fee--being imposed July 1 by the board as a way of recovering county costs--if Measure J passes. That issue should not be linked with the sales tax vote.

The May 14 election is barely 10 weeks away, but the proposal is still a work in progress as the clock ticks. Much remains to be done if the voters are to make an informed decision.