Here’s when a ballot measure for funding a new Whatcom jail appears likely
A ballot measure for a new Whatcom County jail could go before the voters as early as November 2023, according to an update from the panel that’s discussing how to build a new corrections facility after two sales tax proposals that sought funding were rejected by voters.
But even if a new jail tax passes, it could be four to five years before the new facility opens, according to a presentation to the County Council’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.
“I think that’s the best-case scenario from the timeline that I’ve known and understood as we go through this process,” said Tyler Schroeder, deputy executive for Whatcom County, at a County Council committee meeting last week where the effort to build a new jail was discussed.
A new jail has been under consideration for nearly 30 years because it was apparent that the jail was inadequate within 10 years of its 1983 opening next to the County Courthouse in downtown Bellingham, officials said in the presentation Tuesday, April 26.
“I think that we all know that the current jail is and has been failing for many years,” said Councilwoman Kathy Kershner.
No funding method has been decided, but officials are discussing a two-tenths of 1% percent sales tax measure for the November 2023 ballot.
Cost, size and location of a new jail haven’t been decided either.
But officials acknowledged April 26 that somewhere in Bellingham was a likely choice — either downtown or in the Irongate industrial area, where the county owns vacant land and the medium-security Work Center and the Crisis Stabilization Center are located.
Councilman Barry Buchanan, a member of the Jail Stakeholder Advisory Committee, told the council that the jail panel could finish its work by the end of this year.
“We’re trying to figure out how to do that math and get the size facility that’s the right size, and also in terms of location where it works best,” Buchanan told the council.
Tax measures
In 2004, Whatcom County voters approved a one-tenth of 1% sales tax for a new jail, and the county built the Work Center, which holds 150 inmates, to ease crowding at the downtown jail, which holds 212 inmates.
More funding was needed to build a new main jail, but voters rejected an additional tax of two-tenths of 1% in 2015 and 2017.
Those proposals in 2015 and 2017 would have raised the jail tax to its legal limit of three-tenths of 1%, or 30 cents of every $100 spent in Whatcom County.
A 480-bed facility was proposed on land the county owns near Ferndale at a cost of $110 million or more.
But voters expressed opposition to its cost and location away from courts in Bellingham — and many voters also wanted more effort put toward jail-diversion and mental-health programs.
Jail alternatives
Since 2017, the county has started several programs aimed at keeping people out of jail, especial those that focus on mental health and drug addiction services:
▪ Drug Court;
▪ Drug Offender Sentencing Alternatives, known as DOSA;
▪ Ground-level Response and Coordinated Engagement, known as GRACE; and
▪ Law Enforcement-Assisted Diversion, known as LEAD.
“Law enforcement has been very active in hiring mental-health deputies and our council has funded that,” Buchanan said.
But more services are needed, Buchanan said.
Jail repairs, operation
Meanwhile, the current jail requires constant repair and cannot provide the kind of ventilation and distancing required to keep COVID-19 in check, officials said.
Some $9 million has been spent on repairs to the downtown jail in the past 10 years, Schroeder said.
Another $9 was spent in buying the land and planning for the proposed jail that voters rejected in 2015 and 2017, he said.
About $64 million was collected through the existing jail tax from 2005-2021, with the largest portions going to build and operate the Work Center ($30 million) and to fund alternative corrections programs ($20 million), Schroeder said.
Because of booking restrictions related to the pandemic and because of diversion programs, a total of 301 offenders are under supervision, according to the jail status report from the Sheriff’s Office on Monday, May 2:
▪ 163 in the Whatcom County Jail.
▪ 94 in the Work Center.
▪ 51 on electronic home detention.
