The bill that surrounds future funding for the Marshall County Jail passed the Indiana House this week.
Engrossed House Bill 1271 contains a wide buffet of different pieces of legislation including, in essence, House Bill 1311 that “provides that money accumulated from the Marshall County additional tax rate for criminal justice facilities, after the tax imposed is terminated, shall be transferred to the county jail fund to be established by the county auditor.”
As it stands, the current law is that the money would be deferred to the Highway Department. Government leaders saw a need to continue to fund the operations at the jail, to the tune of $2 million annually, and believed this would help.
The bill passed 86-11 and was referred to the Senate on February 17 for further consideration.
The bill has been a hot topic to start off the year for the Marshall County Council members and the Marshall County Commissioners. Before the end of 2020, both entities approved a resolution to propose this topic in the legislature the 2021 session of the General Assembly. However, newly elected Council President Tim Harman and Councilman Jesse Bohannon have voiced opposition to the measure in recent meetings and asked the council to support a motion to send a letter to Representative Jack Jordan to take action to table it, but the majority of the council members did not support the motion on the matter.
Incidentally, it appears Perry County is attempting the same strategy as similar action is being considered for the Detention Center operations there, as listed in Engrossed House Bill 1271.
