Sales Tax Increase For Garfield County Once Again on the Ballot to Fund Jail Improvements

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Garfield County residents will have a chance to participate in another election on Tuesday, May 9th. On the ballot will be a question on whether or not to increase the county sales tax for a period of 15 years by .03%.

The increase in the sales tax would go towards funding improvements to the Garfield County Detention Facility. Garfield County Jail Administrator Ben Crooks has been campaigning for jail improvements and sales tax increases for over a year.

In an interview with Enidlive in March of 2022, Crooks claimed that the Garfield County Jail was over the jail’s designed capacity by 140% and hadn’t been under the designed capacity since 2011. The sales tax increase was on the ballot last fall and was defeated.