Resident presses Cochise County jail tax accounting as board approves consent items

A Cochise County resident raised questions about how jail-district tax revenues have been collected and spent during the Cochise County Jail District meeting on Sept. 16, and the board approved consent agenda items 1 and 2 by voice vote.

The resident, identified in the record as Miss Morse, told the board she attended two-hour town-hall meetings in Bisbee and Wilcox and said she still had unanswered questions about revenues and expenditures. "I was told to take my questions regarding the jail district tax to the two-hour public meetings," she said. She said voters had been told the tax would raise "$13 million to $14 million," but she had recently learned the total income was "almost $17,300,000," that "over $1.5 million" had already been spent, and that the current balance was "over $15.5 million." She asked whether additional revenues were expected and questioned a stated maintenance-of-effort overrun of "almost $1,170,000."

Miss Morse also questioned specific expenditures and contracts she said continued after a March settlement that she described as declaring the previous jail-district tax election unlawful. She cited a $26,000 payment to Bisbee Plumbing in November 2023 and an $80,000 payment to an interim public management contractor in 2024. She said the board had paid "Philip Berdong and Chin Planning well over $130,000" since the settlement and that on Oct. 19 the board approved "a contract for almost $400,000" with a construction management company, Veneer, to be paid from jail-tax revenues. "This seems to be carts before the horses, an unlawful and improper use of these funds," she said, and urged the board to "disclose all pertinent information and documentation" before the Nov. 4 election on a new jail tax.

Supervisor Crosby (District 1) responded with outreach and public-engagement details. Crosby said many residents watch recordings even if they do not attend in person and provided view counts from recent town halls: Sierra Vista, 2,138 views; Douglas, 2,984; Huachuca City, 1,476; "Alfreda," 1,627; Sunside, 931; Bisbee, 1,136; Wilcox, 904; and Tombstone, 773. Crosby said two additional town halls were scheduled — in Sierra Vista the following night and in Benson on Oct. 24 — and that recordings are available on the county website. Crosby said the board staff would continue in-person and remote outreach, including media appearances.

No formal action on the jail tax or the contracts cited by the resident is shown in the meeting record. The only formal action taken during the Jail District meeting was approval of consent agenda items 1 and 2 by voice vote after a motion on the floor; the record does not show who moved or seconded the motion and does not record an itemized roll-call vote. The chair declared the consent agenda approved.

The public comment occurred during the jail-district meeting; the board did not announce any staff direction, investigation assignment, or additional disclosures in response on the record. The jail district meeting adjourned and the board proceeded to a regular meeting at the same location.

Next scheduled public engagement events mentioned by the board are a town hall in Sierra Vista the night after the Sept. 16 meeting and a Benson town hall on Oct. 24; the Nov. 4 election on the jail district tax was referenced by Miss Morse but no new election materials or schedules were adopted at this meeting.