Valencia County minutes ago released unofficial results for the Correctional Facility Gross Receipts Tax election that ended at 7:00pm tonight.

The ballot question asked whether or not the one-eighth of one percent gross receipts tax should be implemented. The results were:

YES – 3,353
NO – 6,495

The tax was defeated with 66 percent of the voting public against it and 34 percent for it.

There were 9,948 votes cast.

The money from the tax was to be used to pay for an expansion of the overcrowded Valencia County Detention Center.

With the defeat of the tax, the county will need to consider other funding options for the expansion. Under state law, the county can’t bring the tax up for county commission approval or another public vote for one year.

At the county administration building tonight, several citizens who campaigned against the tax expressed silent cheers with their wide smiles, while the detention center’s warden, Derek Williams, left quietly and visibly flustered out a back door.

This page was published on November 24, 2009 at 8:00pm and is filed under Archive.