The need for a new jail for Lawrence County has been a longstanding one.

After years of debate, proposed ideas and requests, progress was finally made last year when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced the state would be putting $16.8 million toward the effort.

However, the cost of building an operating a jail will be roughly $32 million, leaving Lawrence County to come up with the difference.

On Tuesday, county commissioners moved to put a half percent sales tax on the May primary ballot, which all would go toward jail funding.

The issue will be debated in the coming months, but we are glad that this step was made to at least put the idea before the people.

The county has a real opportunity to resolve this situation and we are glad to see steps are quickly being made to try to keep things moving forward on this issue.

In the meantime, we encourage voters to follow the discussion closely and cast an informed vote.