Whatcom County leaders have landed on a sales tax as a way to fund a new jail and behavioral health services.

County council members will consider an ordinance, drawn up by the county executive, that would place a 0.2% sales tax on the Nov. 7 ballot. The tax would collect 20 cents on every $100 purchase in the county.

Also up for debate are the details: how to prioritize the spending plan for the millions of dollars the tax would bring in annually.

In recent surveys, people who have been in jail and people of color called for a smaller jail and said the county should put money toward behavioral health programs ahead of a lockup. County officials’ preliminary cost estimates are based on a jail 20% larger than the combined capacity of the current downtown Bellingham jail and the minimum-security Work Center on Division Street.

At that size, the jail is expected to cost between $137 million and $207 million to build, depending on the location. The three sites under consideration are the parking lot south of the courthouse in downtown Bellingham, the current Work Center site, and La Bounty Road in Ferndale. At least three of the seven county council members prefer the 40-acre Ferndale location, which is the least expensive option because it allows for a horizontal building layout. 

First, the tax revenue should cover the construction costs for a new jail and adjacent behavioral care center, according to a memo from county Executive Satpal Sidhu. In its first year, the tax is expected to generate $13.8 million in revenue. 

As revenues steadily increase over the 30-year lifetime of the tax, more money would become available for behavioral health care options in the county, as a way to reduce incarceration rates.

In addition to the ballot measure, the county council over the next two months will debate a 54-page plan outlining how best to balance incarceration with caring for those who typically wind up in jail. Roughly half the inmates in Whatcom County Jail are diagnosed with a serious mental illness, according to a recent jail census. About 80% have a substance use disorder.

The plan involves more than just constructing new facilities. If the council approves the plan, it would direct officials to increase the capacity of existing jail diversion programs, including Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD. The plan also calls for more housing and case management for people with behavioral health issues. 

Furthermore, the plan seeks to include the perspectives of historically marginalized people — those with a history of incarceration, and people of color. That work has already begun, in surveys and focus groups conducted this spring. 

“I think we should build a small jail because I think most people don’t belong there. They belong in other settings, in other systems,” an anonymous survey participant said, according to a May 9 presentation to county council. 

Of the 73 who participated in the surveys and focus groups, 58% identified as non-white and 44% had been incarcerated.

The jail plan calls for formal oversight boards, intended to make sure county leaders follow the plan and to watch how the tax funds are spent. The committee monitoring progress on the plan would include “members of BIPOC communities and people with lived experience” in jail, the draft plan states. The committee also would coordinate with the new Whatcom Racial Equity Commission. Seats on the commission are expected to be filled later this year.

The county council will discuss the ballot measure and the 54-page plan at a committee meeting scheduled for 2:55 p.m. Tuesday, June 6. Deliberations will continue over the next month, with a council vote as early as July 11. Council has until Aug. 1 to approve a ballot measure for the November election.