SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO-AM) A $42 million jail expansion for Minnehaha County is one giant step closer.
The 320-bed expansion has been unamiously approved by the building committee and will be sent on to the County Commission for a formal vote.
"I know it's a big project, it's a lot of money, but this is not office space, this is maximum security housing for inmates that need to be behind bars," County Sheriff Mike Milstead tells KELO Radio News.
Milstead says even if everything goes smoothly from this point forward, it could still take three years for completion, but the county has been talking about it for four years and it's time. The expansion would go up east of the downtown public safety building.
Milstead says a bond issue will eventually be sold to fund the project.
"The construction part of that project to make it turnkey and ready to move into, would raise taxes on a $100,000 home less than a dollar a month," says Milstead.
Sioux Falls growing crime rate is putting extra pressure on a county jail that is already bursting at the seams. It's unclear when the County Commission will schedule the formal vote. Sherriff Milstead says there will first be a period of public education, of getting the word out about the importance of moving forward.