Spokane County voters lend support to juvenile detention facilities funding

Voters in Spokane County Tuesday overwhelmingly renewed a longstanding sales tax that funds the county’s juvenile justice system.

The 0.1% sales tax, first passed in 1995, is the primary funding source for the county’s 39-bed juvenile detention center located on the Spokane County campus in the West Central Neighborhood. Voters have now approved the tax five times, after renewing it in 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2015.

Nearly 66% of voters supported the tax, according to initial results, which is a decrease from the approval rating of nearly 70% the measure received in 2015.

The tax generated more than $15.8 million in revenue last year, with those proceeds covering operation and maintenance costs at the facility, the salaries and benefits for 25 correction officers, four probation counselors and three medical staff members and administrators, and the department’s home monitoring program.

Spokane County Commission Chair Mary Kuney told The Spokesman-Review earlier this year that around 40% of the revenue generated through the sales tax covers the costs of the juvenile system, and the remaining balance goes into the roughly $60 million budget for the adult detention center’s operations and maintenance.

Tori Peterson, Spokane County Juvenile Courts administrator, said in a September interview that her department is committed to community safety, accountability for youth offenders and rehabilitation efforts to better their lives and keep those offenders from cycling through the justice system into adulthood.

A renewal of the tax allows her and her staff to continue with those efforts without fear of losing funding or cutting programs, she said.