Lane County voters will decide next month whether to renew a levy that helps pay for beds at the county jail.
The five-year spending measure will cost the median household around $118 per year. The levy rate would remain the same as it was when it was first approved by voters in 2013. It was renewed by a wide margin in 2018.
Lane County Sheriff Cliff Harrold said during a Friday forum at the City Club of Eugene that if the levy fails, it would mean significant cuts to his department’s ability to house inmates.
“It has the potential to impact delivery of other county services as well," said Harrold. "The commissioners would have to have a conversation about how to reconfigure and prioritize the limited general fund budget.”
The levy does have opposition.
Jacob Trewe of the group “Healing Not Handcuffs” said at the forum that the money should instead be dedicated to community-based mental health and restorative justice programs.
“I don’t think a clearer message could be sent to the county commissioners that there’s not hunger for just jail funding but for something else in the community, than to say ‘no,’” he said.
The forum will air in its entirety on Monday at 7 p.m. on KLCC.
