Since receiving over 70 percent of the margin among Warren County voters, the referendum to approve a three quarter percent increase in a public safety sales tax to build a new Law Enforcement Center was passed, equating at a seventy-five cents additional tax on a one hundred dollar purchase. Citizens Advisory Committee Chairman Chip Algren explains the next steps as the tax in Warren County will begin January 1st of 2024 to first collect toward a $5 million down payment before breaking ground and issuing bonds:
“We have notified the folks at Ringland-Johnson and at Spear Financial, who is advising the County, that the proposition passed. We have the plans for the facility pretty well narrowed down, but there is one thing, and this will be an advantage that it will be a couple years; the state of Illinois passed what was called the Safety Act and when it went into effect, there was a Circuit Judge in Illinois that ruled it unconstitutional and is being appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court. We really don’t know for certain how the Safety Act will affect our inmate population. By the time we get ready to break ground, we will know how it has affected it. So, that could affect the size of the facility. Right now we have planned on a 60 bed facility. Perhaps if this does affect our population, maybe we build a 40 bed.”
Of the 2,414 ballots cast in Warren County, the public safety tax received 1,664 yes votes to 706 no votes.
