Arapahoe County residents will decide this November whether a new jail is worth higher property taxes.

County commissioners unanimously agreed Tuesday to add the question to the ballot for November, the Aurora Sentinel reports.

The measure comes after years of criticism that the county’s existing jail is overcrowded and needs renovated. The county lockup was built to house 386 people in 1986, and today often houses over 1,100 inmates, according to a report from county staff to the board.

“The jail was not built to handle this number of inmates, and the facilities do not allow proper management of these inmates, particularly those who are experiencing mental or behavioral health crises,” the county website explains.

The poor conditions have caused safety issues for both inmates and deputies, according to the website, noting an increase in inmate assaults on deputies by nearly 120% between 2016 and 2019.

The new facility would have 1,612 jail beds, three new housing pods, 11 classrooms, 11 visitation rooms as well as new medical and behavioral units.

The $462 million price tag would partially be funded by a property tax mill-levy increase of 3.4 mills, translating to a $1.59 monthly tax increase per $100,000 in home value. For the home with the county’s average value of $380,000, that would translate to about $68 per year in higher taxes.

“The county budget is already struggling to keep pace with current needs and, without a property tax increase, the amount of funding needed to construct and operate new facilities would require significant reductions to existing programs and services,” said the county report.