Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, alongside Republican and Democratic state and local leaders, urged Salt Lake County voters to approve a $507 million public safety bond during a news conference at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Oct. 25, 2024. (Katie McKellar/Utah News Dispatch)
It’s not every day you see Republicans and Democrats lock arms to urge support of a tax increase.
Yet that’s what happened Friday, when a bipartisan group of high-ranking state and local leaders held a news conference at the Utah Capitol to call on Salt Lake County voters to approve a $507 million public safety bond that is meant to fund improvements and changes to Utah’s most populated county’s jail system.
Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, a Democrat, stood alongside most of her Republican and Democratic counterparts on the Salt Lake County Council to back the bond. Several high-ranking members of Gov. Spencer Cox’s conservative administration also joined, including his senior adviser Mike Mower and his homeless coordinator, former Senate President Wayne Niederhauser.
They pitched it as a way to not only lower crime rates and recidivism in a growing county that hasn’t increased its jail capacity in more than 20 years, but also fill gaps that are aggravating the state’s homeless problems.
“I think we all have some hesitancy to ever ask the public to do more,” Wilson said, acknowledging county taxpayers who may already be feeling pinched.
But she and even some of the Salt Lake County Council’s most staunch Republicans said it’s the fiscally responsible thing to do to address growing public safety needs now rather than wait for the problem to get even worse.
“We can pay now, do it right,” Wilson said, “or we can pay more later.”
Opponents of the bond, including Wilson’s Republican challenger Erin Rider, argue the bond is too expensive and would lead to future tax increases for an already large Salt Lake County budget, which is nearly $2 billion.
What would the $507 million bond pay for?
If Salt Lake County voters approve, the county would take on $507 million in debt over the next five years by issuing two, 20-year bonds. Over 25 years, it would cost the average Salt Lake County homeowner with a home valued at about $602,000 roughly $59 per year (or about $5 per month). For a business or a secondary residence with the same value, it would increase their property tax bill by about $107 per year (or roughly $9 per month).
If the $507 million bond ballot measure passes, according to county officials, it would fund:
A 444-bed increase to Salt Lake County’s total jail capacity, from 2,455 to 2,899 beds.
The closure of the existing and aging 368-bed Salt Lake County Oxbow Jail at 3148 S. 1100 West. Rather than pay for expensive repairs that facility would need to stay operational, county officials would rebuild capacity at the main Salt Lake County Metro Jail, at 3415 S. 900 West in South Salt Lake. With the closure of Oxbow but the expansion of the metro jail, the bond would fund a total of 812 newly-constructed jail beds.
Expansion of mental health treatment beds in the jail, from 88 to 160 beds.
Construction of a 100-bed “reentry unit” or a “step down” facility to help people leaving jail to rejoin society.
Infrastructure improvements at the jail and Salt Lake County Sheriff’s public safety buildings.
Construction of a Justice and Accountability center that would act as a new, lower-security facility for low-level offenders, meant to act as an alternative to jail for people committing “nuisance crimes” rather than violent crimes.
In the Justice and Accountability Center, increased access to mental health services, substance treatment, job training, housing services, and other assistance.
Salt Lake County’s decadeslong jail crisis
The proposed $507 million bond comes as Salt Lake County has struggled to address its languishing jail capacity for more than two decades. In the year 2000, the new, $135 million Salt Lake County Metro jail opened, but it has operated at essentially max capacity ever since.
Former Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder for years warned that the jail needed hundreds more beds. When the new metro jail opened, the aging Oxbow jail sat mothballed off and on for years, at times opening partially while county leaders tried to increase jail capacity but did not fund needed maintenance and operational costs.
Now, both Oxbow and the metro jails need at least $165 million or more for “overdue maintenance and capital improvements,” according to the county, including more than $90 million for Oxbow, which would only extend its life up to 15 years.
A 2024 Salt Lake County ballot with the question of whether to approve or reject a $507 million public safety bond is pictured. (Kyle Dunphey / Utah News Dispatch)
So instead, county leaders want to take a more comprehensive approach. Passage of the bond would work alongside Salt Lake County’s recently adopted five-year plan to improve its human services, homelessness and criminal justice systems.
“With this, what we’re looking at is our future. Our future of growth. Our future of what we do with that population that needs help. Help with housing, help with finding jobs,” Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said. “We really need the help. The growth of this county is going to continue. We have not added a jail bed in the last 23 years. We are at capacity, and we need this solution.”
Since 2001, Salt Lake County has “not added a single bed to our jail,” said Salt Lake County Council member Jim Bradley, a Democrat, who has held the position since 2000.
“In the meantime, 300,000 people have moved into Salt Lake County,” Bradley said. “The math doesn’t add up. Are we getting better in terms of public safety, or are we getting more at risk? This is a critical issue.”
Conservative support
Republican Salt Lake County Council members including Laurie Stringham, Aimee Winder Newton, Dave Alvord and Dea Theodore also urged Salt Lake County voters to support the bond. Newton called it “the most fiscally responsible way that we can spend tax dollars and hold people accountable.”
“For years, we’ve been talking about how we’re going to expand the jail,” Newton said. “We ended up saving $100 million over the last few years to set aside to use for this project, and so we need this bond to help with the rest.”
Alvord said he’s supporting it especially to improve “law and order” in Salt Lake County. “It’s so important that when our residents dial 911, that someone’s able to answer and that we give them the resources they need to respond and bring justice to our community,” he said.
Multiple mayors also expressed support at Friday’s press conference, including Holladay Mayor Robert Dahle and West Jordan Mayor Dirk Burton.
“Can you imagine what it feels like if you’re a police officer and you arrest somebody and then the next day you see them back out on the street again?” Burton said. “Or can you imagine the flip side of that, if you’re working in one of the jails and someone is released and a month later they’re back to the jail again? We need to change the way things have been going. … We can improve, make life better.”
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Business advocacy groups including the Downtown Alliance and the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce have also supported the bond.
Mower, Cox’s senior adviser, said the governor’s administration “strongly supports this public safety bond” as a “critical investment in our community’s well-being, addressing the complex challenges of public safety, homelessness, mental and behavioral health, and housing.”
“Of particular importance is the development of the Justice and Accountability Center,” Mower said, “which will offer treatment services, job training and housing opportunities. This approach will not only reduce the number of people entering the criminal justice system, but will also provide a more cost effective, humane solution to supporting those struggling with homelessness and mental health challenges.”
What would Salt Lake County leaders do if voters don’t sign off on the bond? Wilson told reporters “we’re optimistic” that — with bipartisan support as well as backing from editorial boards of both of Utah’s major newspapers, the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune — “we’ll get this over the finish line.”
If it doesn’t pass, though, she said, “we will regroup if need be as early as the day after” the election.
“But we really need this investment,” Wilson reiterated. “We’re hoping the public understands that.”
State and Salt Lake County leaders chat after a news conference to urge Salt Lake County voters to approve a $507 million public safety bond meant to improve the state’s criminal justice system, held at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Oct. 25, 2024. (Katie McKellar/Utah News Dispatch)
A piece of the puzzle for evolving homeless system
Randy Shumway, chairman of the Utah Homeless Services Board, also attended Friday’s press conference, saying he’s backing the public safety bond because of its bipartisan support, and county leaders’ focus on tackling the “root challenges behind criminal activity” including mental and behavioral health and substance use. Lastly, Shumway said he’s also supporting it because it would invest in helping people “reintegrate into the community.”
“We support the public safety bond as an important step towards breaking the cycle of incarceration and homelessness in Utah, making our community safer and improving the lives of our most vulnerable residents,” Shumway said.
The proposed bond comes as state leaders are working on a separate but related effort to also bolster and reshape Utah’s homeless system. Using $25 million set aside by the 2024 Utah Legislature for a new “emergency shelter,” Niederhauser has spent much of the year searching for an at least 30-acre property that would host a future “centralized, transformative campus” to house up to 1,200 people experiencing homelessness and offer on-site supportive services.
Utah homeless board OKs search for up to 1,200-bed ‘centralized campus.’ What now?
If voters approve the $507 million bond and Oxbow shutters, the former jail has been considered on the list of possible sites for that centralized campus, The Salt Lake Tribune reported this week, though Shumway told the outlet it’s “highly unlikely” it will be chosen as Niederhauser and his office have added other potential sites to the list.
Niederhauser, in an interview with Utah News Dispatch after Friday’s press conference, declined to answer definitively whether Oxbow is still on the list for the centralized campus or not.
“Obviously there is a list out there,” Niederhauser acknowledged, “but it’s not complete. We’re continuing to look at all kinds of properties. The list is going to expand.”
The state’s Office of Homeless Services has a deadline of Dec. 15 to submit three viable options to the Utah Homeless Services Board to consider. Niederhauser said he doesn’t expect that three-site list to be ready for the board’s Nov. 14 meeting. After that, the board’s next regularly scheduled meeting isn’t until Jan. 15. It’s not clear when or if the three preferred sites will be revealed to the public before the board selects a final site.
The state Homeless Services Board gave state leaders a Oct. 1, 2025, to build the new homeless campus.
Niederhauser said the public safety bond and the effort to build a “centralized campus” for Utah’s homeless is “kind of related,” but they’re not mutually exclusive. However, he said state leaders are hoping for voters to pass the bond in order to increase the chances of success for the centralized campus.
“That’s why I’m here today to support it,” Niederhauser said. “The diversion, the mental health. There’s a housing component to this plan that goes along with the bond. Those are all important elements to making the homeless system more responsive and more successful.”
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