Officials Propose 1% Utility Tax Hike to Build New Jail in Santa Ana

Noting that drug dealers, prostitutes and other misdemeanor offenders routinely go free because of lack of jail space, city officials Monday unveiled plans for a $90-million city jail that would cost residents an extra 1% of their utility bills.

The County Jail, which the city now uses, is “like a revolving door,” Police Chief Paul M. Walters told the Santa Ana City Council Monday night during a slide-show presentation by city staff. “You can’t hold people accountable. They get a ticket and they’re gone.”.

More than 18,000 inmates, many of them arrested for crimes including assault and drug dealing, have been released from the County Jail this year because of insufficient space, Walters said. As a result, many criminals no longer take seriously the threat of jail, he said.

Walters also said the existing police administration building is grossly overcrowded and must be replaced. Built in 1959 to accommodate 200 employees, it now houses triple that number.

But several community leaders Monday night said the proposal for a 1% utility tax hike to fund the new building should be brought before the voters for approval.

“We’re all getting nickel and dimed to death,” said Arturo Montez, president of the Santa Ana chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. The tax would hurt businesses and especially the Latino community, he said.

The proposed 390,000-square-foot building would be on Shelton Street between Civic Center Drive and 6th Street near the Santa Ana Municipal Stadium. It would augment the 48-cell temporary jail near City Hall, which should be completed in December. The new building would have 256 jail cells and would house up to 420 male and female offenders, Walters said.

With the new jail, the city would save nearly $1.5 million a year in booking fees, money paid to the county for housing offenders from Santa Ana, he said.

The City Council, however, will not consider the plan officially until early next year.

The Chamber of Commerce has taken no official stand on the proposal, although a committee is considering whether to support it, President Michael Metzler said.

“There are questions that need to be answered about the whole concept,” he said. “The taxing situation is quite important.”

Kathi Jo Brunning, a member of the Northwest Neighborhood Assn., said that “theoretically, it’s a good thing, but the biggest worry is that it will be rented out to other cities” to house their inmates.

Lisa Bist, a member of the Wilshire Square Neighborhood Assn., said a jail “will help the misdemeanor crime problem that we have in the city, but a 1% increase in the tax is obviously not palatable to many people.”

Times staff writer Alicia Di Rado contributed to this report.