(The Center Square) – Spokane County officials considered a number of tax measures on Monday that would fund the construction of a new jail and community-based facilities if approved on a future ballot.
The revenue would go toward implementing more than a dozen recommendations identified in a report by the Safe & Healthy Spokane Task Force last month. The suggestions follow the failure of the last jail tax in 2023, which critics say wouldn’t have done enough to address other regional public safety goals.
Local leaders have wanted to replace the aging downtown Spokane jail and Geiger Correctional Center for years as the population expands under an opioid epidemic and homelessness crisis. If they want to try again in November, the Board of County Commissioners must submit the tax proposal by Aug. 3.
“There’s some skepticism about the property tax,” Commissioner Chris Jordan said during the board’s meeting, citing conversations with other elected officials about whether to run a sales or property tax.
The 2023 sales tax proposal would’ve cost 2 cents per $10 spent at the register for 30 years to raise $1.7 billion, with $540 million of that going to two justice facilities. It’s unclear how much the next jail proposal would cost, and Jordan says they may need to phase in the task force’s recommendations.
A sales tax would apply to all consumers, including tourists, while a property tax would only apply to homeowners, though landlords could pass those costs on by increasing rent. The county can increase sales taxes in a few ways regardless of voter approval, but a property tax would require that consent.
The first option is a 0.1% law enforcement sales tax to generate $14.3 million annually without voter approval; the second is a 0.1% affordable housing sales tax to generate $9.2 million annually with or without voter approval; and the third is a 0.2% public safety sales tax to raise $13.3 million annually, but that option, like the property tax hike, would require voter approval, and 63% rejected it in 2023.
Each local jurisdiction would retain 15% of the revenue generated from the sales tax within its limits.
If the county decides to raise its general fund property tax levy instead, the board has a few options, all of which would require voter approval. The commissioners considered raising the existing rate from 70 cents to $1.15 per $1,000 of assessed value, which would raise an additional $45 million annually.
“Our maximum is $1.80, so mathematically there’s a lot of capacity,” Jeff McMorris, the county’s senior director of finance and administration, explained on Monday. “Politically, it’s a very different equation.”
While the county has been waiting on a new jail for years, the task force’s recommendations come as the commissioners face a $30 million deficit ahead of 2027. The board was already considering raising taxes to fill part of that hole, and raising the cost of living even further could sway tax-fatigued voters.
The city of Spokane is also anticipating another deficit in 2027, so local officials there have eyed some of the same councilmanic tax hikes as the county. Meanwhile, Spokane Transit Authority placed a sales tax on the August ballot, and Spokane Public Schools placed a property tax on the November ballot.
The county could turn to cuts to close its deficit, but it would lead to significant public safety impacts.
“There’s no way to do enhancements when we can’t even afford where we’re at,” Commissioner Mary Kuney said Monday. “That’s the reality of my concern with the Safe & Healthy Task Force: yes, we can talk about all these things … but if it’s going to cost dollars, we’re not going to have dollars to do it.”