With a 49-percent voter turnout for Tuesday’s special election in Curry Co. to keep the county’s jail open, failed 57-percent to 43-percent. Registered voters rejected an increase in their property tax rate to raise $1.6 million to keep the jai in Gold Beach operational for three years. Sheriff John Bishop, who has already announced he is leaving the office this year for a new job, says the jail and its staffing are in jeopardy. The county is augmenting the jail’s budget with money from the County Road Fund. That, however, will run out in 2016. Last November, Curry Co. voters rejected a $3.2 million public safety tax increase that would have tripled property taxes.
