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Sherburne County seeks $75 million for law enforcement center; committee questions 'oversizing' and federal detainee role
Summary
Sherburne County asked the House Tax Committee for authority to seek up to $75 million via a local-option sales tax to renovate and replace aging infrastructure at its law enforcement center; county officials said the request follows federal directed spending and aims to modernize medical and booking areas, while several members raised concerns about building excess bed capacity and the county's reliance on contracted federal detainees.
Sherburne County officials told the House Tax Committee on April 15 they need roughly $75 million to replace and renovate aging infrastructure at the county law enforcement center, and asked the Legislature to let county voters decide whether to approve a local-option sales tax to pay bonds for the work.
County administrator Alex Zimmerman said the facility is approximately 45 years old and requires upgrades to intake, booking, medical assessment spaces and the sally port. The county has previously hosted federal detainees and other contract housings and received $2.5 million in congressionally directed spending, Zimmerman said, but the county emphasizes this is primarily a county capital need rather than a new or expanded bed capacity project.
Committee members pressed the county on scale and incentives. A committee member noted the facility currently has hundreds of beds but an average daily population of roughly 100 to 200 county detainees; the member asked whether the county had intentionally "oversized" the facility and whether that creates perverse incentives to rely on contract revenue. "If you build 800 beds in your jail and your budget relies on filling those beds, that creates perverse incentives," a member said, warning of risks when local budgets grow dependent on outside contracts.
Sherburne representatives responded that the renovation will not substantially increase bed capacity and that the project emphasizes improved medical and booking space and safety upgrades; administrators said additional square footage will not add a large number of new beds but will modernize deficient areas. They also said federal contracts can be volatile: during COVID the number of federal detainees fell dramatically.
Why it matters: Sherburne County's proposal illustrates a broader committee concern: if counties build larger-than-needed regional jails to generate contract revenue, state policy and oversight questions arise about who should bear the costs and whether local bond-funded construction is the appropriate mechanism.
Outcome: Representative Mekeland moved House File 4424 and laid the bill over for possible inclusion; no final vote was taken. The committee signaled it will seek additional details about federal contracting, bed counts and the project's cost-benefit analysis before acting further.
