The Tangipahoa Parish Council is putting the finishing touch on the jail tax before the proposal heads to voters Oct. 19.
The parish-wide half-cent sales tax would support the building of a new jail, which parish leaders have said is necessary to put criminals behind bars, even for petty crimes, to show the law has teeth.
A cooperative endeavor agreement between the sheriff's office and the parish government is on the council's Monday night agenda.
A key provision of the agreement says at no time will more than 25 percent of the jail's total population be made up of non-local inmates.
Sheriff Daniel Edwards says about 50 percent of the jail's 526 beds are now occupied by federal and state inmates.