by Dennis Dalman
A public meeting about the proposed new Stearns County Justice Center will take place starting at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 16 in the Mississippi Room of the St. Cloud Regional Public Library.
That library is located at 1300 W. St. German St. in St. Cloud.
Moderated by the St. Cloud League of Women Voters, a panel of guests will discuss the need for the center, the current plans for the configurations of the center and the proposed increase in sales tax to pay for the center.
Panelists are Stearns County Sheriff Steve Soyka, Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall, Stearns County Auditor-Treasurer Randy Schreifels, Stearns County Administrator Michael Williams and Tarryl Clark, who is the chair of the Stearns County Board of Commissioners.
Many months ago, the State of Minnesota determined Stearns County needs a new justice facility to meet public-safety needs. For examples, the jail does not meet state standards and is too outdated to maintain properly; a larger courthouse is needed to accommodate more judges and the county attorney’s office and probation program need more spaces.
The county board has had at times contentious discussions about a justice-center complex and wrestled with tough questions: Should it be built in downtown St. Cloud at the current jail-courthouse location, or should some of its facilities be constructed on green space elsewhere in the city? In June, the county commissioners arrived at a consensus that the center should be built on green space, not in crowded courtroom square in downtown St. Cloud.
How to pay for it? With property taxes or an increase in the sales tax? County commissioners voted to call for a referendum asking residents to approve a 3/8th- cent increase in the sales tax to pay for the center, estimated to cost up to $235 million. Many of the people who go through the justice system here are out-of-county residents. Thus the rationale for the sales-tax increase is that at least half of those who shop in the county are from elsewhere and thereby the cost could be shared by in-county and out-county residents. County residents will have a chance to vote for – or against – a sales-tax increase in the Nov. 5 general election.
The new complex would include a jail with room for 270 beds, a law-enforcement center, a county attorney’s office, a community corrections/probation, courts administration and 14 courtrooms.
The new jail/justice center complex is estimated to cost up to $325 million, though commissioners are hopeful they won’t have to spend that much if they can modify the project with cost-cutting measures.
It would be paid for over a 30-year period.
