How much do you want to pay?

Hamilton County residents will have two more chances to give their opinion on suggestions of increasing the sales tax to pay for a new jail.

Public hearings will be 9:30 a.m. Monday, Aug. 21 and Thursday, Aug. 24 – both at the County Administration Building, 138 E. Court St., Downtown – to consider a suggestion to raise Hamilton County’s 6.5 percent sales tax by a half-cent.

That suggestion, put forth by Commissioner Todd Portune (left with deputy county administrator Ron Roberts), would take four years to pay off a $225 million jail – saving more than $180 million in financing costs when compared to a proposal to increase the sales tax by a quarter-cent for 20 years.

Those meetings are in addition to the two already scheduled to listen to public input on a quarter-cent sales tax increase.

That quarter-cent proposal – put forth by Commissioner Phil Heimlich, Sheriff Simon Leis Jr. and financier Carl Lindner Jr. – already is the subject of two public hearings. The first is at the Sycamore Township Building, 8540 Kenwood Road. The second is at the Westwood First Presbyterian Church, 3011 Harrison Ave. Both are at 6:30 p.m.

Commissioners face an Aug. 24 deadline to place any proposed sales tax increases on the fall ballot.