Mackinac County Bond Proposal for New Jail Fails

After several months of educating the community on the need for a new jail, voters turned down the proposal Tuesday.

The Mackinac County Jail has been dealing with overcrowding for several years.

It was a .75 mill to build a new $12 million jail and upgrade the current jail for county purposes.

It would have cost the average homeowner about $45.

The Mackinac County Sheriff says they will now have to start shipping inmates to other jails, which can get expensive.

"It’s very disappointing the vote turned out the way it is," Mackinac County Sheriff Scott Strait said. "However, the voters decided that they want to have things status quo and we will have to deal with the overcrowding in a different situation."

The sheriff says they may revisit putting the proposal on the ballot, but that wouldn’t be for several years.