KENT COUNTY, Mich. — Funding for the jail in Kent County will be on the ballot this fall.
A proposal from the Kent County Sheriff's Office seeks to renew and increase the Corrections and Detention Millage, which "supports the safety, infrastructure, and daily operations" of Kent County’s Correctional Facility and Juvenile Detention Centers, according to the county.
For decades, the millage has funded these two facilities.
Currently, a homeowner in Kent County with a taxable property value of $100,000 annually pays around $75 into the millage, set at 0.7332 mills.
A proposed rate of 0.98 mills would likely cost this homeowner an additional $25.
"This is really aimed at doing the work that we've already agreed to do, that we've been doing very successfully over decades," Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young said.
On Tuesday, LaJoye-Young and others from her office led members of the media on a tour of the Kent County Correctional Facility, specifically highlighting how additional funding from the millage would support the physical and mental health of inmates.
In 1972, when the facility opened, a lower inmate population and a lower understanding of how to name and treat mental illness meant less infrastructure for physical and psychological care.
In 2026, a "substantially" larger inmate population and "such and increase in medical and mental health concerns" has put a strain on the facility.
"When somebody is receiving medical treatment or psychological treatment, doing it in a facility that isn't well suited for it can actually have a negative impact on their health," LaJoye-Young said. "So, that's also a very primary function of this: better medical and psychological services, better workflow, safer —because we're not having to export people out to other facilities — and, in the long run, less expensive for the community."
"That's why we think this is worth doing," she said.
Funding from the millage, according to the sheriff's office, will not be used to increase bed capacity at the facility or create designated beds for inmates being held on behalf of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or other federal agencies.
If approved, the majority of the money would be put toward expanding and improving the facility's ability to provide healthcare.
The upcoming general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
