Cleveland County Commissioners want the proposed one quarter cent jail sales tax paid off and taken off the books as soon as possible, the board said Friday.

Commissioners formally adopted a resolution stating the intention upon the passage and approval of a one-fourth of one cent sales tax to pay for the construction of a detention facility as soon as possible, terminate the tax when bonds are paid. They also formalized plans to form a citizen oversight committee.

All local cities have sales taxes, but Cleveland County has never had a sales tax. It is one of only three counties without a tax, said Assistant District Attorney David Batton. Commissioners think the tax is the most financially reasonable way to finance the jail, Batton said. They believe a third of the sales tax is paid by visitors to the county.

If the tax vote fails Dec. 9, property taxes could be raised to get the $40.292 million needed to build the jail, Batton said.

If the sales tax is approved, a committee will oversee the monies received from the tax. The sales tax will be for 20 years but once the jail is paid for, the tax will stop.

Commissioners won't know the exact cost of the detention center or the interest rate planned for U.S. 77 and Franklin Road until it goes out for bid, District 3 commissioner Rusty Sullivan said.

The commissioners have figured on a savings of $1.2 million by using county equipment and crews to do some of the dirt work.

"We will do everything we can do ourselves to save costs," Sullivan said.

The mayor or the mayor's designee of Norman, Moore, Noble, Lexington, Slaughterville and Oklahoma City will each appoint a member to the oversight committee. County commissioners will each appoint a member and other members will include a representative in the banking business, sheriff's office, the University of Oklahoma and a citizen at large.

Bond attorneys, law enforcement officials, town officials and some members of the public attended the informational meeting concerning the sales tax.

Jeff Raley, an attorney with the Floyd Law Firm, said he was a "prosecutor for 30 years and nothing is more disheartening to law enforcement, than to arrest someone, book them and by the time you write the report, the guy's back on the street before you."

The state jail bed ratio is three beds per 1,000 population; Cleveland County is .75 beds per 1,000, Raley said. He also said ground should be broken March 9, 2009, (for the jail) and it should be operational in two and a half or three years.

"By that point, it will really be critical," he said. "My friend Stan Grossman said, 'It's time to stop aiming and start shooting,'" Raley said. "I think it's time we start shooting."

David Hopper, former city councilman, said Sheriff DeWayne Beggs told him in 2000 it was time to start looking at a new jail. They did another study later, and since that time there has been a third committee, he said.

Judge Bill Hetherington said he and the other judges in the county have done all they can do with pre-trial release, drug court and other arrangements to keep the jail population down.

"We are at the saturation point," Hetherington said.

The Cleveland County Detention Center was built in the 1980s to hold 177 prisoners. The center averages more than 200 prisoners and has for the past few years. The Oklahoma State Department of Health has mandated that the county fix the problem or the health department will shut down the jail or fine the county $10,000 a day.

"I have been in office less than two years and before I was even sworn in, Don Garrison (a jail inspector with the Oklahoma State Department of Health) said it was time to move forward," Sullivan said. "If we don't get this done, I really think he will impose the fine."

"I hate taxes," said former state Rep. Thad Balkman.

He hates the threat of crime more, which is why he decided to raise his family here, he said.

The special election is Dec. 9 calling for a one-fourth of one cent sales tax.

Sheriff-elect Joe Lester agrees there is a need for the jail.

"There are over 12,000 warrants for arrest sitting over there right now," he said.

"I think it is the responsibility of representatives and others to attend the meetings to get educated," Commissioner Rod Cleveland said.

He said he and the other commissioners make 50 to 100 calls to inform people about the meetings. The Cleveland County Justice Authority was formed 18 months ago, he said, and financial experts have attended the meetings and others about jail matters.

Norman citizens are willing to invest in parks and other things for Norman and hopefully they'll be willing to invest in this, Cleveland said.

The bottom line is "We're going to build a jail," Roger Warren, chairman of the Republican Party said. "How are we going to fund it?"