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Benton County Will Ask Voters To Fund New Jail

Rachael McDonald

The Benton County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to put a measure on the November ballot to fund a new jail.  

The 25 million dollar bond would fund a new 110-bed jail to replace the existing facility in downtown Corvallis.
Rick Osborne is spokesman for Benton County.

Osborne: "Our current jail has 40 beds in it. We have a population of 85-thousand. That's the smallest jail per-capita in the state of Oregon. It was a temporary structure built in the mid 1970s to last about 10 years until we had a regional jail system."

Osborne says that system never materialized.

He says after a public information campaign by the sheriff and commissioners, polling showed more awareness and support from the community.

The new jail would be built outside of Corvallis near Philomath. The jail bond would cost around 26 cents per 1000-dollars property tax value. The county estimates it would cost the average property owner about 4 dollars and 50 cents a month.
 
 

Rachael McDonald is KLCC’s host for All Things Considered on weekday afternoons. She also is the editor of the KLCC Extra, the daily digital newspaper. Rachael has a BA in English from the University of Oregon. She started out in public radio as a newsroom volunteer at KLCC in 2000.
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