Jackson County Sheriff Gary Schuette recently appeared on WKHM to discuss the current condition of and plan to renovate the Wesley Street Jail as well as add on to the Chanter Road facility.
Schuette stated that it’s common knowledge throughout the law enforcement community, that the Wesley Street is “subpar”. “I did not know to what degree subpar…that it was critical…that it was in crisis mode…pipes were bursting, sewer was falling…I didn’t know all of that,” Schuette said on WKHM, referencing a tour he took of the facility in May of 2021.
A phone call around the same time came from County Administrator Mike Overton, who urged Schute to look at the Chanter Road operating costs and that a millage renewal may have to be sought. It was then that Schute took a “close look at the Wesley Street facility…and really realized the scope of the problem.”
Before Schuette pursued anything that involved “taxes”, he looked into other sources of revenue, “each time I met a roadblock…I contacted the USDA in an attempt to get a Rural Development Loan, (but) our county is too large.” The Rural Development Loan would have provided a zero interest loan for 40 years, which obviously would make it much easier to build a jail.“ More attempts to seek funding in both state and federal legislature were unsuccessful as well.
“I’ve talked with the Michigan Sheriff’s Association, I’ve talked with several Sheriffs around here who’ve recently built a county jail and they all agree that the way you build a jail, is you have to have a millage.”
The millage will appear on the November 8th, 2022 ballot. The ballot language as it appears on the Jackson County Website, co.jackon.mi.us, is below:
JAIL ADDITION AND SHERIFF’S OFFICE MILLAGE QUESTION For the purpose of constructing, equipping, and financing an addition to the County Jail and a new Sheriff’s Office to replace the existing building, and for their ongoing operating expenses, shall the Constitutional limitation upon the total amount of taxes which may be assessed in one (1) year upon all property within the County of Jackson, Michigan be increased by up to one (1) mill, $1.00 per thousand dollars of state taxable valuation, for a period of twenty (20) years (2022-2041) inclusive? If approved and levied in full, this Millage will raise an estimated $5,275,280 in the first calendar year of the levy, based on state taxable valuation. If approved and levied, in accordance with State law a portion of the millage may be distributed to the Downtown Development Authorities of the City of Jackson, the Villages of Grass Lake and Springport, and the Townships of Blackman and Leoni; the Local Development Finance Authorities of the Village of Parma and the Township of Blackman; and the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority of the City of Jackson.
