$98 Million Jail?

Douglas County Commission Chairman, Tom Wortham has proposed spending $98 million to build a new jail. He is using the same scare tatics used in Cobb County; either pass a SPLOST or we will raise your property taxes. The need for a new jail is in question. Mike Raiford responds to his proposal.

Mike writes:

Dear Editor,

Douglas County Commission Chairman Tom Worthan has said the county may need a new jail to the tune of $98 Million of money that citizens of this county have worked hard to earn. And this after the Sheriff's office got about 6 or 8 million only a few years ago to build the jail annex? What are we doing??

First, how did the chairman come up with the figure of $98 Million? Are we planning to have another Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax after the present one ends? At this point, no one wants to claim any knowledge of any specifics about this new jail, such as how many inmates we can house in a $98 million facility, where this facility will be placed, what has happened in Douglas County to warrant that much more space for county prisoners, and what else has been done, or considered, to alleviate whatever has happened to warrant such an expenditure of honest families' income to house the county's criminals.

There are numerous other options to jail crowding that should be looked at. Governor Perdue, in his State of the State speech, offered to spend $45 million to build 4300 new prison beds to alleviate prison crowding. If we use Governor Perdue's figures, Mr. Chairman, that $98 million you want could give this county space for nearly 10,000 more prisoners. Mr. Chairman, what are you expecting in this county?

And Chairman Worthan is seeking to form a Douglas County Jail Authority to spend that $98 million-- Wow!! More Government in Douglas County!! Just what we need! Now I understand that, so long as we have criminals, we'll have to spend money on jails from time to time, but I'm having a gut-wrenching problem with spending the equivalent of nearly a year's budget for the entire county, on just jails in five years. Frankly, I'm just not that concerned with the comfort and convenience of the county's criminal element, not so much that I want to take money from hard working families for them.

And finally we come back to the threat we all heard last time a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) was on the ballot for the citizens to vote on. "If the voters don't approve the SPLOST, we'll just raise property taxes." When any politician gives the citizens who elected him the old "we're going to get you one way or the other", it just doesn't sound like much wisdom or thinking power was involved.

So, color me concerned about what the future holds here. When the last Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax was on the ballot, I and a number of my colleagues warned that, if this new tax was passed, the county government would continuously find a way to perpetuate the extra tax-- proving that there is no end of government's appetite for your money. And it's up to you and me to stop it. Chairman Worthan, as a Libertarian and a citizen of Douglas County, I believe we need a tax break, not perpetual taxation. Mr. Chairman, please reconsider your ways.

Mike Raiford, Vice Chairman
Libertarian Party of Douglas County