Boone County Weighs Next Move After Jail Tax Fails

Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey says he won’t push for another jail ballot measure while he’s sheriff, after voters rejected Proposition L — the 3/8-cent sales tax that would have paid for a new county jail — by nearly 60% on Nov. 3, according to ABC 17 News and KOMU 8.

Carey told ABC 17 he was surprised by the result — his office’s own canvassing had suggested the measure was doing well — but once later returns came in, he accepted it would not pass. “This problem is not going to go away,” he said, adding that his job now is to “move the agency forward.”

How crowded is the jail, and what is the county already paying?

Per KOMU, Carey has said the jail was holding 457 people against a rated capacity of 246 beds, which he’s warned could push the county into “a major, major crisis mode” without new capacity. Boone County already pays to house detainees it can’t fit across 14 other Missouri counties, a cost the Sheriff’s Office has estimated at roughly $4.5 million for 2026. The County Commission added $1.9 million to this year’s budget for that out-of-county housing last month, as we reported in Boone Sheriff Asks $1.9M to Keep Housing Inmates Elsewhere.

What happens next?

With no new jail funding approved, the jail administrator has been calling other Missouri jails to check bed availability — Carey has said some beds elsewhere aren’t currently in use — and KOMU reported the next option on the table could be housing detainees out of state. Carey offered no other specific fix after the vote, saying the campaign had no regrets and that voters simply weren’t convinced of the need, per KOMU.

Proposition L would have funded a jail sized for 570 detainees along with a mental health facility and reentry center, with a sunset date of Dec. 31, 2042, as we explained in Prop L, Boone County’s Jail Tax: What a Yes or a No Would Mean for Rocheport. Opponents organized as “No New Jail” argued the measure focused on construction without a detailed treatment plan. Organizer John Amick told both outlets the defeat opens the door to alternatives, including changes to the county’s cash-bail system, which he says keeps people jailed simply because they can’t afford to post bond. Boone County Prosecutor Roger Johnson has said that for anyone held without bond, a court has already found clear and convincing evidence that releasing the person would endanger the public.