SPOKANE, Wash. — After for proposing a , Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown is pivoting to a new sales tax proposal in an effort to address the same issues.
Brown , just a month after introducing it.
The property tax proposal was expected to cost the median Spokane property owner about $323 each year, while the new sales tax proposal would collect one-tenth of one percent — that’s a dollar for every $1,000 — spent on most goods and services. Food and prescription drugs would be among the items exempted.
Brown’s original proposal was set to go on the ballot in August before she withdrew it. The mayor hopes the Spokane City Council will approve putting the sales tax proposal on the ballot in November.
The city expects the tax to generate $7.7 million each year in total. With 15% set to go to Spokane County, the city would be left with $6.5 million each year.
“While we are still facing a severe budget deficit, this approach gets us back on track while making the safety investments our community wants and needs,” Brown said.
As city leaders have worked through a budget deficit to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, Brown has repeatedly warned that without a new source of revenue, cuts to police and the fire department will be necessary.
Not all city leaders agree with that characterization. At the time the property tax was proposed, Spokane City Councilmember Michael Cathcart said threatening to cut public safety was a
Cathcart didn’t oppose efforts to find new sources of revenue—although he emphasized the need to make cuts before looking for it—and he suggested a sales tax would be more palatable to voters.
On Monday, Cathcart said he had not been engaged in any discussions regarding the sales tax proposal, and he hadn’t heard about this plan until the Brown administration sent a press release.
While he’s grateful for the change in direction, he still has concerns about the plan.
“My concern is that we’re sort of in the same situation as two months ago, where there’s just no details built into the proposal,” Cathcart said.
A release from city spokesperson Erin Hut highlighted some high-level priorities for the funding, including getting new equipment for the Spokane Fire Department, relaunching the Spokane Police Department’s neighborhood resource officer program and implementing plans to help the city better respond to extreme weather.
A draft resolution was discussed at the Spokane City Council Public Safety Committee meeting that dictates 1/3 of the money collected by the tax be directed towards criminal justice purposes.
Cathcart would like to see more details, something he said he hopes will start to be worked out at the city’s next budget workshop on July 18.
“It’s important that that we have some protections in a resolution like this, to ensure that the money is going to be spent how the electorate thinks or expects that it will be spent,” Cathcart said. “I’m open to putting this on the ballot. I have not made that commitment yet.”
