OKLAHOMA CITY — Property owners in Oklahoma County may soon see an increase in their taxes following a lawsuit against the county.
According to the lawsuit, the Oklahoma County Jail didn’t pay its health care contract for a few months last year, digging a $3.3 million hole.
Sheriff John Whetsel admits that when the state reduced the number of inmates at the county jail, they ran out of money.
“For a year, we talked about the problems we were going to have when the Department of Corrections reduced the funding that came to the sheriff’s office by about $3.5 million,” said Whetsel. “We weren’t going to be able to finish the year out.”
According to Sheriff Whetsel, the budget to run the jail is about $35 million. He has budgeted around $8 million of that for health care.
When the jail failed to pay a portion of their health care contract, the company sued and was awarded $3.3 million.
Experts say that judgment will go on the tax roles and trigger a slight increase.
If you own a $150,000 home in Oklahoma County, your property taxes could go up as much as $2.81 a year for the next three years.
“I guess one of the many advantages we have of being such a great county is we have a huge tax base,” said Oklahoma County Treasurer Butch Freeman.
Oklahoma County Assessor Leonard Sullivan is critical of the way Sheriff Whetsel has run the jail, adding that taxpayers are on the hook for deficit.
“Well once he runs out of money, we’ve got to dig it up somewhere else in the county,” said Sullivan.
According to Sullivan, this is not the first time the jail has run out of money to pay the bills.
There are more than 30 lawsuits against the Oklahoma County Jail pending right now.
