59 votes.

That’s all the sheriff’s department needed to pass Proposition P in 2023.

Technically, voters defeated that half-cent sales tax by 117 votes (2,862-2,745) but if only 59 of those voters changed their mind and supported the measure, it passes.

With that seemingly realistic goal in mind, the sheriff’s department had legitimate reasons to believe they would be able to get it passed a second time around in 2025.

They changed the approach and instead of sharing revenue with local police departments, focused more on expanding their own force while adding other services like animal control.

The results were, well, disastrous.

Instead of losing by a little more than 100 votes, opposition literally increased more than 10 fold as this version of Prop P, rebranded as Proposition Safe Community, lost by more than 1,100.

That begs the question: Why? What has changed in two years so drastically that opposition to the exact same sales grew more than 10 times?

Like most things, the answer isn’t simple.

There’s lots of reasons contributing to why this sales tax is different from the one two years ago, which contributed to its more lopsided defeat.

First and foremost, there was an $80 school bond issue on the same ballot staring at voters, while giving them a choice to support one tax and not the other. Inflation is high and with the ongoing trade wars and ensuing stock market crash, there’s a lot of economic uncertainty.

Plus, right or wrong, the sheriff’s department has been publicly criticized for some high-profile cases since Prop P’s defeat, including the shooting of Matthew Robinson and most recently, the abuse allegations surrounding Brenda Deutsch.

Eliminating the local police forces from funding also probably didn’t help. While the reasoning made sense, it probably cost votes in some of these little towns.

But most damning for this tax increase is the public’s growing dissatisfaction with local leadership.

Bottom line: This was a no-confidence vote not just on the sheriff’s department, but the county in general.

Lincoln County residents are tired of being taxed at a rate well above the state average while receiving below average services.

Roads and bridges are subpar, economic development is stagnating, the county lacks basic services like a library and animal control and apparently, the sheriff’s department is vastly underfunded while at the same time, other departments can afford to purchase abandoned bank buildings.

Mix in a $150,000 scam in which county officials declined to comment on and voters clearly have lost confidence and trust.

This is a serious problem facing Lincoln County right now and Tuesday’s vote just highlighted it.

The county commission needs to be very aware and diligent in trying to restore confidence and trust with the public because it’s not there presently.

And until it is, Sheriff Rick Harrell can campaign until he’s blue in the face and make all the heart-wrenching speeches he wants, as he did with the last sales tax issue. But unless voters trust county leadership in general, it won’t make any difference.

Gregory Orear is the General Manager/Editor of the Lincoln County Journal, Elsberry Democrat and Troy Free Press. He can be contacted at gorear@cherryroad.com.