Kent County Sheriff's Office proposes jail millage renewal and increase for November ballot
Money Moves Grand Rapids, MI local0.98-mill request would fund medical and mental health upgrades at 1972 jail
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Overview
Updated 2 hours agoKent County voters will decide in November whether to renew and increase the 36-year-old property tax that funds the county jail. The sheriff's office is asking for a 20-year extension at 0.98 mills, up from the current 0.7332 mills. For a home with $100,000 in taxable value, that adds about $24.68 per year, for a total of roughly $98.
The money would pay for medical and mental health upgrades in the 1972 jail, plus a feasibility study. Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young says the current medical unit is too small, forcing frequent transports to outside hospitals. The proposal would not add jail beds or create beds for federal immigration detainees.
Why it matters
Voters decide whether to pay $25 more per $100,000 taxable value for jail medical upgrades, or face a $28.7 million county budget gap after 2029.
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People Involved
Organizations Involved
Operates the Kent County Correctional Facility and juvenile detention center, and provides centralized booking for more than 30 law enforcement agencies.
Elected county body that sets the county budget and approved placing the millage question on the ballot.
Jail in Grand Rapids with capacity for 1,477 inmates and an average daily population just under 1,000.
Timeline
January 1972 November 2026
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Election Day
Upcoming ElectionVoters decide whether to approve the millage renewal and increase.
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Sheriff proposes millage
Latest AnnouncementSheriff proposes 0.98-mill renewal and increase for Nov. 3 ballot.
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Arrests logged
DataKCCF logs 17,790 arrests brought to the facility.
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Millage renewal approved
ElectionVoters renew millage for 20 years, extending dedicated funding through 2029 levy.
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Original millage approved
ElectionVoters approve 0.84-mill corrections millage for 20 years.
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Jail built
InfrastructureOriginal section of Kent County Correctional Facility built.
Historical Context
3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.
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.
Kent County Corrections Millage Renewal (2008)
Voters renewed the corrections millage for 20 years, extending it through the 2029 levy. At the time, it generated about $16 million a year and funded about 43% of the annual corrections operating budget.
The renewal funded added bed space and video court infrastructure.
It kept the centralized booking system running while the county general fund paid the remaining costs.
The 2026 request follows the same renewal pattern but adds an increase to pay for medical and mental health facility upgrades.
COVID-19 in Michigan Jails (2020)
Jails across Michigan reduced populations and suspended visitation to slow COVID-19 outbreaks. At Kent County, undersheriff Bryan Muir said the jail's 1970s HVAC system proved inadequate for controlling disease spread.
Facilities adopted temporary quarantine and release measures.
The pandemic exposed how aging jail infrastructure limits disease control, a problem the 2026 millage proposal explicitly addresses.
The sheriff's office cites the HVAC failure as a reason to modernize the jail's medical spaces.
