City leaders say a new jail has to be built. It's been in the works since the Vigo County Sheriff and county commissioners settled a 2002 jail overcrowding lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Vigo County Council picked a spot at the former International Paper property near the school aquatic center. Some say it shouldn't be on riverfront property primed for economic development.
Now there's controversy on how to fund it. Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett says he supports a 1.25 percent public safety tax increase that would be split between the city and county.
"It's not to make the budget bigger, it's to pay for existing things where we've lost money from and the people want those services," Bennett says.
He says the city's portion of the funds would free up the budget to work against the $8.1 million dollar city deficit.
But Vigo County Councilman Brendan Kearns says it's not up to the county to make up the city's budget shortfall.
"Vigo County is not broke. The City of Terre Haute is. So Vigo County made adjustments as did most entities in the state of Indiana," Kearns says.
He says another option the county is looking at is tacking on an additional 0.25 percent tax to pay just for the jail which ends once the project is paid off.
The next county council meeting is March 14th.