EVERETT — Lynnwood became the second city in Snohomish County to approve a 0.1% public safety sales tax Monday.
Last year, the state Legislature passed a bill that allows cities to implement the tax without voter approval if the city meets certain requirements, including police training and proper use-of-force policies. According to the bill, funds must go toward “activities that substantially assist the criminal justice system,” including domestic violence services, public defenders, reentry work, and community outreach and assistance programs.
“As we look at our peers in the south Snohomish County area, we are the leader in all those efforts,” Lynnwood Police Chief Cole Langdon said.
The tax comes as the city faces a budget gap it must fill by the end of the year. At Monday’s meeting, Finance Director Michelle Meyer said the gap sits at $3.75 million. Mayor George Hurst has said the gap is closer to $5 million.
The current gap assumes the police department stays at its current staffing level, which Langdon said is unsustainable with 23 vacancies. Meyer said revenue from the tax would go toward restoring the level of police service and would not automatically reduce the budget deficit.
“Yes, there are that many cuts already in the police department that we could put that money in the general fund, but we need to have a bigger discussion about police level of service because, again, that gap is based on the current reduced level of funding they’re already operating under,” Meyer said.
The council approved the tax by a vote of 5-1, with council Vice President Derica Escamilla voting no.
“If we pass it today, we’re kind of kicking the can down the road,” Escamilla said. “The money isn’t going to come immediately, and it’s still not the solution to figure out the next biennium because we’re not even getting back to normal, much less figuring out what the new service is going to be.”
Police Chief Cole Langdon said the department is on track to satisfy the training requirements by the end of February. That would allow the city to begin collecting the tax in April, which would bring in between $1.75 million and $1.93 million for 2026. Lynnwood would receive its first payment at the end of June.
The same requirements that allow cities to implement the sales tax allow cities to qualify for a portion of a 3-year, $100 million grant to put toward hiring and training new police officers.
The new tax makes Lynnwood the city with the highest sales tax in the state at 10.7%. The city of Edmonds was set to consider a 0.1% transportation benefit sales tax Tuesday, which would also bring its sales tax to 10.7%. Edmonds was the first city in Snohomish County to approve the public safety sales tax in August.
“We are in a fiscal crisis,” council President Nick Coelho said at the council’s Jan. 5 work session. “We have a large budget deficit to resolve left over from decisions made last year, and we only have a few options as council about what to do. … One option is for council to find revenues, to levy taxes, that’s one of the four things we do as a body that the executive branch can’t do. In absence of a plan in front of us, we only have that kind of option.”
Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.
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