SPOKANE, Wash. – Downtown Spokane Partnership endorsed Spokane County Measure 1 Monday, a Jail Sales Tax that would fund Spokane County’s juvenile detention facilities for another decade.
Spokane County operates a 39-bed juvenile detention facility with seven intake cells. The county is in the midst of a legal battle with the state after the Washington Department of Children, Youth and Families temporarily stopped assisting local governments with youth detention due to overcrowding issues.
The Washington State Association of Counties argues that the state has the responsibility to reimburse counties that had to pay for juvenile detention out-of-pocket for several weeks. Pressure on juvenile detention facilities, as well as additional scrutiny of their practices, has increased across the state in recent months.
In King County, an April audit found that the average stay for juveniles in detention increased from 12 days to 39 days between 2017 and 2023. In Spokane County, the Martin Hall Juvenile Corrections Facility is in the midst of a Sheriff’s Office investigation
Measure 1 would renew the existing sales tax structure, which collects $0.01 on every $10 purchase in Spokane. While renewals of detention center sales taxes usually pass without much attention from community leaders, a series of unexpected failed bonds and levies in the and special elections have spurred additional attention from local and county officials.
