Salt Lake County voters don’t want to foot the bill for a proposed bond that would contribute $507 million to public safety, criminal justice reform and homelessness solutions.
But the overall plan to achieve what the measure intended to do is hardly dead.
As of Monday afternoon, 51.6% of the tallied votes opposed the proposed bond compared to 48.4% in favor of it.
Nearly 15,000 more county residents voted against the bond, with about 7,700 ballots still to be processed, according to the Salt Lake County clerk’s office. The final results are expected to be certified Tuesday.
The bond would have funded a new facility for repeat and low-level offenders, combined two existing jails into one, and provided more mental health and drug treatment resources at the main county jail.
Repaying the bond would have cost the average homeowner nearly $60 a year.
County Mayor Jenny Wilson said last week that even if the bond failed, its planned improvements would not change. Officials across party lines back Wilson’s five-year plan for housing and homelessness, she added, which included elements of the bond.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Oxbow Jail sits adjacent to the Jordan River Trail in October 2024.
And regardless, Oxbow Jail would still need funding — whether for deferred maintenance, more beds or a limited rebuild in lieu of the bond’s original plan of combining that facility with the main jail and then selling Oxbow.
“We just need more time to regroup,” Wilson said, noting the bond’s “very narrow” margin. “Perhaps, and I’m not committing to it, but maybe a modified proposal in two years could be considered, and maybe we can cover some of our immediate needs in other ways.”
