The Fulton County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday voted 4-2 not to pass a motion that would’ve directed the office of county management to pursue a sales tax to pay for a new $2 billion jail.
This vote is another setback for those trying to get the new jail approved and funded by the county. It comes two weeks after the commission voted to rescind a request for proposals seeking contractors to help manage the project.
Without any other financing options at the moment, the fate of the proposed jail remains up in the air.
The new pretrial detention facility was first proposed last December by Sheriff Patrick Labat, whose office didn’t respond to requests for comment Wednesday. Labat and other supporters of the project argue that the existing jail at Rice Street is beyond repair and creates an unsafe environment for staff and people incarcerated. Ten people died in custody at the jail last year, and three have died so far this year.
Prior to Wednesday’s vote, commissioners went back and forth about the merits of improving the existing jail versus building a new facility. District 5 Commissioner Marvin Arrington rejected Chairman Robb Pitts’ estimation that the repair and renovations to the existing jail would only cost $100 million.
Pitts pushed back, and said, “Even if it were 200 million, 300 million, 400 million that’s still less than two billion.”
The two votes backing the tax came from Arrington and District 3 Commissioner Dana Barrett, who introduced the legislation.
District 4 Commissioner Natalie Hall, who is campaigning to keep her seat on the commission in a June 18 runoff election, did not vote on the legislation.
Representatives from advocacy groups, including Color of Change, the Southern Center for Human Rights, and the ACLU of Georgia, spoke at public comment in opposition to the proposed sales tax.
“Mass incarceration is a disease that disproportionately affects poor people all across the country, and similarly a sales tax would have a disproportionate effect on poor folks who are trying to survive day to day in our county,” said Devin Franklin, movement policy counsel at the Southern Center for Human Rights.
