BLOOMINGTON Monroe County has spent years searching for a place to build a new jail. It will keep looking after councilors decided a plot of land on State Road 46 was too expensive.

Monroe County Council unanimously denied a measure to appropriate $8 million to fund an $11 million land purchase between Bloomington and Ellettsville. The meeting was more than seven hours long and featured many public comments opposed to the potential use of taxpayer money.

Council president Jennifer Crossley said it did not make financial sense for Monroe County to buy the land after its budget was hamstrung by Senate Enrolled Act 1, also known as Indiana's property tax law.

"We are the fiscal stewards of the community," Crossley said. "We just simply cannot afford a project to the scope and magnitude tha

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