Spokane City Council formally opposes proposed $1.7 billion sales tax

The Spokane City Council voted Monday to formally oppose the measure that will ask Spokane County voters in November whether local sales taxes should increase to pay for investments in the county’s criminal justice system.

Opponents of Measure 1, most of whom agreed that new jails and other investments in the criminal justice system are necessary, have attacked the specific proposal as a “blank check” without sufficient plans for most of the revenue.

The resolution passed 5-2 Monday night. Councilmen Jonathan Bingle and Michael Cathcart voted in opposition, arguing that new facilities and other investments are needed without delay.

If voters approve it, Measure 1 would bring in an estimated $1.7 billion over the next 30 years for criminal justice, public safety and behavioral health projects. Spokane County would receive 60% of the revenues, and the remaining 40% would be distributed among cities and towns within the county.

Of the county’s portion, county commissioners plan to spend about $305 million on two new jails, although interest on loan payments over three decades would bring total costs to around $540 million.

But beyond these projects, which have dominated debates this year over whether Spokane County should adopt a “jail tax,” there are few specific pledges guaranteeing how local officials would spend the remaining $1 billion.

“Measure 1 is a $1 billion blank check to the county,” Councilman Zack Zappone said Monday. “They only have a plan for new facilities. That’s it. The measure talks about services and behavioral health, but there’s no plan about what the services are and what they’ll do.”

Bingle, who argued there were broad plans for how the money would be spent, if not “every penny,” attempted earlier in the day to replace the Monday resolution with one that instead supported Measure 1, saying investments in the criminal justice system were needed immediately and that the city’s portion of the revenue could help dig Spokane out of a budget hole.

“I think that, during our budget situation right now, this is something that would absolutely help us to address that,” Bingle said. “But, beyond that, I don’t believe we will see again a realistic opportunity to generate the revenue necessary to begin the process of fixing our broken criminal justice system.”

Bingle argued that the 0.2% local sales tax was preferable to a property tax to pay for increased criminal justice services, noting the revenue that tourists and visitors bring to the county would contribute to the fund.

Cathcart, who was the only other council member to support Bingle’s motion, noted that around 28% of all revenue from the new tax would go to the city of Spokane and be spent at the discretion of the City Council.

“This is 1,000% us,” Cathcart said. “No plan has been adopted yet … but we still have six months before even one penny of taxes is collected, which means there’ll be substantial time for this council to put together a list of criminal justice priorities.”

While the opposition to Measure 1 has mostly been characterized by local elected officials and candidates for local office as concern over a lack of details, many testifying Monday night argued against an expansion of local jails under any circumstances.

Justice Forral, an activist with Spokane Community Against Racism and chair of the anti-Measure 1 political action committee Justice Not Jails, argued Spokane relied too heavily on jails to address societal woes. The PAC has raised around $500,000 as of Monday.

“Let’s stop underfunding our public defenders, stop underfunding services, stop underfunding our schools, and let’s work on solutions to lift people out of their struggle,” Forral said.

Councilwoman Karen Stratton, who mostly echoed concerns that the tax didn’t come with guardrails, was sympathetic to the argument of Forral and others.

“We’ve had jails for centuries,” she said. “It just doesn’t work.”

Cathcart took a different tack, arguing that real concerns with the current criminal justice system could not be fixed without significant investment.

“We’ve heard from a lot of folks today who feel like our criminal justice system is broken, and no doubt that it’s very broken, especially here in Spokane,” Cathcart said. “The problem is the only source of funding to actually correct it is Measure 1.”

Bingle bristled at the criticism of the concept of a new jail.

“People who are opposing this measure come in and act as if everybody who’s in jail is wrongly accused, wrongly convicted, and I just disagree with you,” Bingle said. “Evil in this world exists, and if that’s the case, then there must be a way for the community as a whole to deal with that.”

Spokane County Commissioners are expected to hold a similar vote Tuesday after public testimony. A majority of commissioners support Measure 1.