Grants Pass, Ore. — The public safety measure in Josephine County is the latest attempt to raise money for jail services, the Juvenile Justice Center and other safety services.
Several similar levies have failed in the past.
Tuesday night it appears voters are breaking that trend.
The results currently show 52 percent in favor of the 5-year levy and nearly 48 percent against it.
More than 40 percent of voters turned out in Josephine County to weigh in on the controversial issue.
Some of those against it believe the levy is propaganda and that the money won’t go where it needs to go.
Others in favor of it say the levy would help keep Josephine County a safer place by the sheriff’s department having the ability to hold more people in the jail.
“Where I live in the county… if I called the sheriff’s department up it would take them three hours to get there and if this was passed, it would still take them three hours,” a man in downtown Grants Pass who doesn’t want to be identified said.
“Personally I would be relieved and then also feeling safer around downtown,” Grants Pass resident Darian Westbrook said.
Josephine County Commissioner Dan DeYoung says he’s very happy with the results so far because he thinks it’s a good step in a positive direction.
But he says this is not the end of the road… just a bridge to the actual solution to fund the sheriff’s department long-term.
“Now the county commissioners – the board- have to go to work and the sheriff’s got to go to work. And we’re gonna really work on that trust issue that we’ve had for a long time… it’s been holding down a lot of things in Josephine County for a long time,” DeYoung said.
Commissioner Dan DeYoung says while the results aren’t complete yet, he thinks the morale will be high in the courthouse tomorrow and he’s looking forward to going to work.
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