YELLOWSTONE COUNTY, Mt. — Yellowstone County commissioners are asking voters to approve two separate measures this November: a $175 million bond to expand the county jail and a mill levy of up to $20 million a year to help operate it.
If both measures pass, the bond would pay for the jail expansion and the mill levy would cover operating costs, including staffing, food and laundry.
But commissioners say some of that operating money could be collected and spent even before construction on the expansion is complete.
Commissioner Mike Waters, R-Yellowstone County says the county would not collect the full levy amount right away.
"There's a misperception that we are going to levy the full amount of the $20 million that's being asked in the levy right away," Waters said. "So we are only going to levy amounts associated as the expansion goes forward."
Waters says the county does not yet know exactly how much it would collect or spend in the beginning, and those numbers will become more clear as the county moves through contracting and planning.
County Attorney Scott Twito, R-Yellowstone County, says the county may levy a portion of that after the first year — perhaps $5 million, perhaps $10 million.
Twito says the bigger challenge is predicting exactly what it will cost to operate an expanded jail years from now.
"I wish you could say in this funding mechanism that you know exactly to the penny how many dollars you need in operating costs," Twito said. "You don't."
The county says the jail has been housing more than 650 inmates despite a capacity of 434.
Twito says the county has spent years trying alternatives to address the overcrowding, including treatment programs, bringing providers into the facility, work release and furloughs into treatment.
"And despite all those efforts, our jail continues to be overcrowded," Twito said.
Not everyone is convinced the expansion is the right answer.
"What the county commissioners and the jail expansion group did not adequately explore is other ways that they could mitigate the overcrowding problem," said Jack Hanson.
Hanson is among the residents questioning whether expanding the jail is the right approach to overcrowding.
"This whole jail expansion project is just so enormous and so expensive," Hanson said. "Nothing's reasonable about it."
Hanson says his concern isn't just the size of the project — it's how long taxpayers could be paying for it.
"So that becomes a permanent part of our tax bill," Hanson said.
"We're going to try to save money for the taxpayer as much as we can, along every step of the way," said Waters.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
