![One of the sites under consideration for a new county jail, in the Slavic Village neighborhood of Cleveland. When the site became public, it was met by widespread opposition from residents and officials. [Matthew Richmond / Ideastream Public Media]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/4e0edc5/2147483647/strip/true/crop/980x551+0+0/resize/840x472!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fimages%2Fnews%2Fnpr%2F2022%2F03%2F1088880738_1074655146.jpg)
The three candidates for Cuyahoga County Executive support letting voters decide whether to extend a quarter-percent sales to pay for a new county jail.
Late last year, Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish proposed paying for a new jail, which is estimated to cost $550 million, by extending a quarter-percent sales tax that was created to pay for the county’s convention center. That proposal has not been introduced to county council.
During an appearance at the City Club of Cleveland this week, Republican Lee Weingart repeated a call he first made in September to put the tax up for a vote. The two Democratic candidates in the race took similar positions when asked about their stances Friday by Ideastream Public Media.
“I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves, putting too much emphasis on the jail itself and not enough on the criminal justice system,” Weingart said.
Earlier this month at the City Club, Democratic candidate Chris Ronayne expressed skepticism about the need for a new jail and the plan to pay for it with a sales tax, but stopped short of calling for a public vote.
“We need to have a conversation with the people,” Ronayne said. “If given the chance, if it isn’t locked in by the time the next county executive takes office in January of 2023, I’ll open up the conversation.”
Like Weingart, Ronayne also said the decision on extending the tax should be left to the voters.
“Chris supports a voter referendum to decide the sales tax extension to pay for the new jail proposal,” Ronayne’s spokesman, David Razum, wrote to Ideastream Public Media in an email Friday.
Democratic candidate Tariq Shabazz said during an interview with Ideastream Friday he also wants to see a public vote on the sales tax extension.
“There needs to be more public input into the whole process,” Shabazz said.
A Justice Center Executive Steering Committee began meeting in 2019 to discuss the future of the Downtown Cleveland courts building and jail.
The committee is made up of officials from city and county courts and council members, the prosecutor’s office, the county executive, Cleveland mayor’s office and other officials involved in the justice system.
In late 2020, the committee agreed to build a new jail, somewhere outside downtown, and left a decision about the future of the courts building for a later date.
During their appearances at City Club this week, all three county executive candidates expressed skepticism about plans to build a new jail. They also stressed the importance of reducing the number of people held in jail through bail reform, the county diversion center and centralized booking.
“Yes, we need adequate jail beds, but we also need adequate treatment beds,” Ronayne said. “In this very room, I heard a former county jail consultant say the jail currently being proposed was too big for our needs.”
County officials are considering a site outside Downtown Cleveland for the new jail and no decision has been announced, though the steering committee’s plan was to have a site by the end of March.
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