To the editor:

The upcoming sales tax question has two significant flaws that should be considered by each voter in Douglas County. The first flaw is the lack of a sunset clause. This is an issue for the 1994 countywide 1-cent sales tax passed to fund the Community Health Building and Lawrence Indoor Aquatic Center. Both projects are complete, but the 1-cent sales tax stays in place. It gives significant latitude for allocation of these funds by current elected officials. It is unfortunate that the current ballot question does not sunset once the bonds to fund the capital costs in both projects are completely retired.

The second flaw relates to the wording of the ballot question. It does not designate a specific allocation of funding to either the mental health facilities or the jail expansion. As noted in the information published by Douglas County, the jail expansion will require another $5 million in operating costs that will need to be sourced from property taxes. This is approximately a 4 mill increase in the mill levy.

Future county commissions might be tempted to reallocate funding initially committed to mental health initiatives to fund operating costs of the jail to control growth of the mill levy. While this may seem a remote likelihood, the ballot question does not preclude it. The current commission is not able to earmark future property taxes to fund the increase in jail operating expenses. The risk exists.

Is this the right structure to fund these initiatives?