Kent County Corrections Millage Creation (1990)
Kent County voters approved a 0.84-mill, 20-year property tax to build and run a centralized county jail. Before that, cities like Grand Rapids operated their own pre-arraignment lockups and the county took custody only after arraignment.
The millage funded the jail's round housing units and 24/7 central booking for Grand Rapids police; local lockups closed.
It created a shared system now used by more than 30 law enforcement agencies, with the millage covering about 43% of corrections costs.
The 2026 proposal is a renewal and increase of this same funding stream, not a new county function.
