The Boone County Commission decided Tuesday to move a proposed three-eighth-cent sales tax from the Aug. 4 ballot to the Nov. 3 ballot to give county officials more time to build public support and provide additional information about plans for a new county jail.
Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey, whose office oversees the jail, requested the delay, and the commissioners unanimously approved it.
The proposed sales tax would help fund expanded law enforcement services, including construction of a new county jail to address overcrowding and rising detention costs.
Commissioners said the additional time would allow the county to better explain the proposal and continue discussions about how to manage incarceration, mental health treatment and diversion programs.
Commissioner Janet Thompson said Boone County has spent decades trying to manage jail overcrowding without simply expanding incarceration capacity.
Thompson referenced a former “jail overcrowding group” that brought together judges, prosecutors, public defenders, county officials and law enforcement leaders to examine alternatives to detention and reduce jail populations.
“That group sort of didn’t meet as often, didn’t really focus on those issues as much,” Thompson said. “And I think that’s part of the issue that we’re looking at now.”
The county needs to “bring the band back together,” she said, referring to a group that could better address public safety concerns with diversion programs, mental health treatment and housing support.
“We have to be smarter,” Thompson said. “We cannot simply build a huge facility and think that’s going to solve it, because it doesn’t.”
Commissioners also discussed the financial pressures created by sending detainees to jails in other counties because of limited space.
Commissioner Kip Kendrick said the county spent about $500,000 annually on out-of-county detention in 2017 and 2022. He said those costs increased to roughly $920,000 in 2024 and rose to about $2.56 million in 2025.
Boone County spent approximately $1.12 million during the first quarter of 2026, Kendrick said, putting the county on pace to spend around $4.5 million this year on out-of-county detention costs.
He also pointed to population growth and increased law enforcement staffing in Columbia as factors contributing to rising detention numbers.
Kendrick said construction of a new jail would still likely be years away even if voters approve the tax measure in November, meaning the county will continue facing budget pressures in the meantime.
Thompson, a former public defender, said housing detainees away from Boone County also slows court proceedings and limits access to attorneys and family members.
“You have not only impacted that client’s case by keeping that client very far from their lawyer and family, but you’ve also impacted all of the other clients that that public defender represents,” Thompson said.
During public comment, a Columbia resident objected to the proposal, arguing the county should further examine alternatives to incarceration before expanding detention capacity.
Commissioners approved the ballot language placing the sales tax question before voters Nov. 3 as Proposition L.
If approved, the sales tax would take effect in the second calendar quarter following certification of the election results and would not include an expiration date.
Aside from the sales tax proposal, commissioners also approved:
- A contract for chip seal pavement preservation for the Boone County Resource Manage Department.
- Small interior and exterior construction for the Boone County Road and Bridge Department
