Frustrations with the upcoming construction of a new Whatcom County jail — and fears that funds earmarked to build a new behavioral health center could be transferred to the jail project — were on display during a community meeting in Lynden Thursday night, March 19.
The meeting was the second hosted by Whatcom County to engage community members about the planned jail and behavioral health facilities, also known as the justice project. In November, residents took a more hands-on approach to understand what they would like to see prioritized for the two facilities.
While some residents at the community meeting encouraged county officials to build a jail that would foster accountability, they were outnumbered by community members who feared a large jail would not leave enough funds for access to key services that could prevent incarceration in the first place.
Brooke Eolande, who was on the Stakeholder Advisory Committee for the 2023 sales tax increase campaign to fund the project, said she knew people who voted twice against the jail project before voting for it in 2023 based on the promise to voters that funds would go toward behavioral health services.
“It really feels like these services are being used to kind of hold this hostage, to agree to a jail,” she said. “It feels like it was misleading to the people who voted for it to not fulfill those promises.”
The county is in a delicate balancing act of funding the justice project and keeping former campaign promises, such as access to mental health services for those who are in jail. Part of the reason why the behavioral health facility is being built is to fulfill that campaign promise.
Whatcom County residents approved a 0.2% sales tax increase to fund the justice project that included a jail and a behavioral health center. Officials acknowledged at the time, based on a hypothetical jail facility of 440 beds, the project was estimated to cost $150 million. The new jail facility will replace the existing jail, which was built in 1984 and is currently overcrowded.
That’s no longer the case. Sales tax revenues have stagnated as residents watch their budgets and construction costs have climbed.
The county estimates that in 2025, gross tax collections were down $1 million from the 2023 projections presented to the voters.
Irene Morgan speaks during a public comment session for a meeting to discuss the new jail design at the Lynden City Annex Chamber. (Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)
Now, officials estimate construction of a 480-bed jail with fewer services and restricted housing configurations could cost between $170 million and $200 million.
Irene Morgan, who spoke during the public comment period on Thursday, feared the cost to build the jail would only put the county in a tougher financial position.
“I so appreciate the emotion that I see here tonight, because building this jail will only eventually bankrupt the county,” Morgan said. “I don’t know how many people know that the tax money is just for the building of the jail, not for the operation. The operation is going to cost as much as the jail itself.”
Others, like Whatcom County Council member Ben Elenbaas and former Bellingham Police officer Tawsha Dykstra Thompson, said the jail construction was the first step toward getting people access to the services they may need.
Whatcom County Sheriff Donnell Tanksley reminded residents that services such as substance abuse disorder treatment and mental health treatment would be provided at the new jail, regardless of the number of beds inside.
“In terms of the service we provide inside the jail, we should have those services as we promised people,” he said, adding that if the jail cannot provide services, job training and the possibility for expansion as the county grows, it would be a “failure.”
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.