DALLAS COUNTY, Iowa — Dallas County voters struck down a bond referendum to build a new court building, with 51.2% voting against it. To be approved, it needed to receive a 60% majority. Voters will likely see the bond referendum for the court building come up again soon.
County attorney Jeannine Ritchie told Local 5 the Board of Supervisors plan to put it up for a vote on next November’s ballot.
It was supposed to have six courtrooms and be located a few miles from the courthouse near the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office. If passed, property taxes would have been raised by about $18.63 per $100,000 home evaluation.
“The unfortunate thing is that as time passes, there will be an increase in value, because there will be an increase in materials and labor costs,” Ritchie said.
Ritchie said this came up because there’s limited space in the courthouse and a growing number of cases.
“We realize that as the county grows, we've outgrown a part of the courthouse, and so having a separate criminal court building for criminal cases might be the only solution,” Ritchie said.
The Dallas County Courthouse only has three courtrooms that are able to hold jury trials.
“In the past three or four months, we've had several weeks where we've had three trials scheduled for criminal cases, and all courtrooms have been in use,” Ritchie said.
Ritchie said the plan now is to take all public feedback from the past few months and apply that to the new version of the bond referendum.
“I'm hopeful that we'll see more progress and success next year,” Ritchie said.
The Dallas County Administration Building is opening across the street from the courthouse, which should help free up some space. The county assessor, treasurer and human resources offices will all be housed in the new facility.
The building was funded by a combination of American Rescue Plan Act funds and sales tax funds, not through a property tax increase.