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With the primary and general election ballots beginning to look crowded in 2009, Spokane County commissioners Tuesday pondered the idea of asking voters in May to renew a .1 of 1 percent sales tax that raises about $7.1 million a year for public safety purposes.
If the commissioners agree to put the issue on the May 19 ballot, at this time it would be the only item voters would consider. That means that Spokane County would have to bear the brunt of the $300,000 cost to print and mail the ballots.
“No other jurisdictions are currently planning elections,” said Vicky Dalton, county auditor. “It would be a solo run for the county.”
Marshal Farnell, county CEO, brought the matter before commissioners on
Tuesday, saying that the sales tax would expire in 2010 if not renewed by voters this year. While the county collects the tax, the amount is divvied up among the cities and towns to pay for items relating to criminal justice or public safety. Typically, the money is used for funding court and jail services, and – in the case of the city of Spokane Valley – helping pay for the contract with the sheriff’s office for police service.
There is some concern that if the issue doesn’t go before voters soon enough, there could be a gap in collecting the tax after the first of the year, said Jim Emacio, county attorney. On the downside, he said, there might not be enough time to “educate the public” on what the tax money is used for.
That also was the same reasoning Commissioner John Roskelley wasn’t in favor of putting the item on the ballot the first time around. The measure was placed on the Sept. 14, 2004, primary ballot after it was supported by then-Commissioners Phil Harris and Kate McCaslin.
The tax also became an issue for Roskelley in the days after he was a commissioner when the county sought another .1 percent of 1-percent sales tax to fund emergency communications equipment upgrades and the return of the Crime Check phone line. Roskelley’s contention – and that of McCaslin, who supported him on the issue – is that money should have come from the original public safety sales tax.
“Our citizens are going to be overtaxed,” Roskelley asserted at the time.
County voters, however, supported the tax by 52 percent in ’04, with 49,600 saying yes.
Vehicle sales – both new and used – are exempt to the tax, Farnell said.
Should the tax measure fail at the polls in May, the commissioners would have the option of getting the question back on the ballot in August or November.
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By
Mike Huffman
