Column: Monroe County should not use economic development taxes for a new jail

Monroe County is considering using its portion of the Economic Development Local Income Tax (ED-LIT) passed in 2022 to fund construction of a new jail . The county's portion of the .69% local income tax comes out to about $11 million a year.

Members of the Monroe County Council want to use this to pay for a 20-year, $180 million bond ($112 million of this would go toward construction and $68 million would go toward paying off the interest). Given that jails are not economic development, this seems like a sneaky, or at best misleading, use of "economic development" funds.

A new jail will not add jobs. It will not improve our infrastructure or make Monroe County more attractive to businesses. In fact, the opposite is true, because higher income taxes reduce peoples’ real wages, meaning employers in turn have to pay more to remain competitive.

Monroe County is already an expensive place to live. There is a shortage of affordable housing . Residents making $50,000 a year are already paying $1,012 per year in local income taxes alone (and then there are property taxes, sales taxes, state taxes, and federal taxes on top of this). And now the county wants to use this income tax collected in the name of economic development to build a new jail that will not improve the economic situation of the average resident one bit?

If Monroe County is going to collect a tax for “economic development” it should go toward economic development, not paying off interest on a massive loan. Why is the county so eager to go into debt? If we had a thriving economy with plentiful, well-paying jobs with benefits, there would be far fewer people in jail in the first place.

The 2021 Eve Hill report found Monroe County is paying $5,700 per person booked into the Monroe County Jail. That would be enough to give every person booked in the Monroe County Jail $475 a month toward their rent. That would be economic development.

As a county we need to make sure our voices are heard before our officials leave us on the hook for $180 million, which will come out of our paychecks and benefit us in no way.

Sam Holdeman is a member of Care Not Cages, an anti-incarceration advocacy group .

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Column: Monroe County should not use economic development taxes for a new jail