JEFFERSON COUNTY, Indiana — Residents in Jefferson County, Indiana, will be seeing a little more money being taken out of their paychecks after a new tax rate went into effect on Jan. 1, 2020, with the money going towards building a new county jail.
"Nobody wants to pay a tax," Jefferson County Council member Ray Denning said. "I don't want to pay a tax. No one on the council wants to pay a tax. With the current jail situation, it's unavoidable. It's the only way we can pay for it."
The rate increase, which brings the county income tax from 0.35 percent to 0.9 percent, will go towards paying for a new jail building that will address the issues of jail overcrowding at the Jefferson County Jail in downtown Madison, Ind.
"Max population is supposed to be 109 inmates and we've had over 170 at certain times," Denning said.
According to Denning, a state inspection 2017 found several issues with the existing jail and tasked the county leaders to come up with a plan to make corrections.
"They can actually take over the jail or close it down altogether if we didn't start this process," Denning said.
The Jefferson County Council voted in August 2019 to purchase 50 acres of land off J.A. Berry Lane in Madison and voted in September 2019 to pass two new county income taxes to help fund the new jail project.
The first tax increase is a 0.20 percent jail tax allowed by state statute and will remain in effect for 22 years or until the jail is paid off. The second tax increase is a 0.35 percent public safety tax, which does not have a set expiration date but can be adjusted by local government.
"We're not just building a jail because we want to," Denning said. "What it comes down to is it's a lot more people breaking the law and the opiate epidemic has compounded that. We were just forced to do it."
With the rate increase, Jefferson County now ranks 86th among the 92 counties in Indiana when it comes to county income taxes, which is a jump from last place.
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