New Justice Center for Fond du Lac County?
Published on Thursday, December 11, 2025
PROPOSED: A $400 MILLION “JUSTICE CENTER” FOR FDL COUNTY
Your County Board Votes December 16th to Start Design Work
What’s Happening?
The County is considering a massive project that has grown from a new jail into a full “Justice Center.” It would relocate the jail, sheriff, courts, DA’s office, Clerk of Courts, and more from downtown to the edge of the city (near the County Highway Garage on Hickory Street). The current jail and sheriff’s office would be vacated as well as an entire floor of the City-County Government Center.
This decision does NOT have to go to referendum, you must act NOW.
The Cost & Impact on YOU
Total Project Estimated Cost: $400,000,000 (Four Hundred Million Dollars)
Annual Tax Impact: Estimated $162 per $100,000 of your property’s assessed value.
For a $300,000 Home: That’s an extra $486 per year for each of the next 20 years.
County Debt Skyrockets: This would make Fond du Lac County’s per-person debt the highest in Wisconsin ($4,600+), which is $2,000 higher that the next highest County. It would use 85% of our borrowing capacity. No other County is Wisconsin is even close to using this much of their borrowing capacity, the highest now is at 45%.
Urgent, Unanswered Questions:
Is This Size Needed? The current jail holds 322. The new one plans for 450 inmates. But our county population is aging and not growing. Have we fully explored alternatives (diversion programs like drug courts), mental health/drug treatment, court efficiencies) to lower the inmate count?
Temporary Backlog? Is the current high jail population a temporary backlog from COVID-19 or other temporary causes?
Staffing Shortages? What role do shortages of public defenders and DAs play in keeping people in jail longer?
Downtown Desertion? What happens to downtown businesses when the courts, clerks, employees and visitors move away? What will the County do with all the empty, taxpayer-owned space left behind?
Can We Afford This? Our county tax rate is already higher than our surrounding Counties, this increase would make our rate 2x that of Outagamie County and 4x that of Washington County. An increase like this will handicap our County’s economic growth for a generation.
TIME IS SHORT. THE COUNTY BOARD VOTES SOON.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
CONTACT YOUR COUNTY SUPERVISOR IMMEDIATELY. Tell them to vote NO on the December 16th resolution to approve the new site. Demand answers to the questions above first.
SHARE THIS INFORMATION with neighbors, friends, and family. Taxpayers deserve a full, transparent discussion before committing to a generation of debt.
ATTEND THE COUNTY BOARD MEETING:
Date: Tuesday, December 16th
Time & Location: 6pm at the City-County Government Center 160 S. Macy Street.
Public comments are not allowed but your presence will send a message.
If you agree this is a bad idea and your County Board Supervisor is going to vote for the project, you can run for COUNTY BOARD! All supervisors are up for election in April 2026. To put your name on the ballot you need to take out nomination papers at the County Clerk’s office and get signatures from 50 eligible voters in your district. The signatures must be turned in by January 6, 2026.
A $400 million decision be made with a public mandate.
A referendum on this project is not required by law.
Ask questions.
Demand answers.
Get involved.
How to Find Your district and County Supervisor
To find their name, Go to https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/My-Elected-Officials and enter your address. This will give you the name of your Supervisor and the number of your district (scroll down, local officials are at the bottom of the page)
To find their contact information, go to https://www.fdlco.wi.gov/government/county-board-supervisors and look up their phone number and email address.
