Published: August 12, 2009 06:19 am      

Voters say yes to new jail

Though the special election held Tuesday brought a low voter turnout, a proposition to raise the county sales tax to pay for a new Woodward County jail passed with 1,250 voters saying yes, and 798 voters saying no, according to unofficial results.

Also, voters in the Fort Supply School district approved two bond issues by margins of more than 80 percent on Tuesday.

The proposal for $1.5 million to build a new gym received 119 yes votes to 25 no votes

The Fort Supply school proposition to issue $70,000 in bonds for transportation equipment passed with 121 yes votes to 26 no votes.

Fort Supply voters in Harper County voted 23-1 in favor of both issues and in Ellis County, the vote was 6 for and 0 against.

Sixty percent is the required margin for passing bonds.

Percentage-wise, votes for the jail for Woodward County was 61.04 percent in favor of it and 38.96 percent against.

Gary Stanley, who has campaigned actively for a new jail since becoming the Woodward County sheriff, said, “I’m well pleased.”

“I want to thank everybody who voted,” Stanley said. “I thought people would see this is something we needed. Once it’s built, we’ll have plenty of beds. We’ll try to get by until we have a new jail.”

“I’ll be a good steward of the county’s money and take care of these prisoners,” he said. “A jail trust of seven people will make the decisions on this (new jail).”

Woodward County’s portion of the current sales tax is two tenths of a cent.

The sales increase will raise it by five eighths of a cent to .825 of a cent until the facility is paid off. After the jail is paid for, the sales tax will revert to four tenths of a cent, of which two tenths will pay for maintenance, operation and salaries for the jail.

The remaining two tenths of a cent will continue to pay for other county programs.

The current jail, according to Stanley and others in the community of Woodward, is too small to house the number of inmates arrested and is unsafe. It has received several citations for overcrowding and other issues.

The new facility is expected to cost $10 million and will have 124 beds. The need is based on a 20-year estimate from 2007 crime data provided by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

While the voters who showed up were in favor of a new jail, the overall turnout was low.

According to the Woodward County Election Board numbers only 20 percent of the 10,744 eligible voters went to the polls.

“I wish it (turnout) had been a lot bigger,” said Carol Carrell, election board secretary.