Tax hike to run jail is debated

By Jennifer Langston

Herald Writer

Operating Snohomish County’s new jail could cost residents a nickel each time they buy $50 worth of products at the store.

The county council will decide next month whether it will ask residents to vote on a tenth-of-a-cent increase in the sales tax to run the new jail.

The tax increase would be put before county voters Sept. 17. The council plans three community meetings this month to give information and take comments on the major issues it faces.

Those include the sales tax increase for the jail, developing a regional transportation plan, and a major redesign of the county’s campus in Everett.

The sales tax increase proposed by the Snohomish County executive’s office would add 15 cents to the cost of a new CD player, or $200 when buying a new Honda Accord.

That’s the price of running a jail that meets federal and state requirements for housing inmates and that keeps criminals off the streets, county officials maintain.

If voters don’t approve the increase, the county will be forced to cut nearly $9 million from other programs each year to operate the jail, officials estimate.

That could include eliminating human services programs designed to prevent crime, an approach county Executive Bob Drewel calls "foolish but necessary." It could mean less spending on parks, or longer lines to get a marriage license.

"It will come out of our budget," Drewel said. "It will have to come from major program cuts. We can’t thin the soup anymore."

The sales tax increase would cost the average resident about $13 a year, county officials estimate. But some parts of Snohomish County already have the highest sales taxes in the state.

Tax proposal

The Snohomish County Council must decide whether to ask voters this fall to approve a tenth-of-a-cent increase in the sales tax to pay for operating the county’s new jail.

The sales tax increase would:

  • Take effect in 2003 and cost the average resident about $13 a year.

  • Raise about $9 million a year to operate an expanded Snohomish County Jail.

  • Snohomish County Council member Kirke Sievers said the vote will be an interesting litmus test of what county residents value.

    "Ninety-nine percent of the people who write to me say ‘we want you to be tough on crime,’ " he said. "To be tough on crime … the end result of that process is the jail."

    The current Snohomish County main jail has long been overcrowded. Its current capacity is 477 inmates, but it routinely houses between 600 and 700.

    Inmates may be confined to their bunks for the bulk of the day. They sleep on mats on the floor. There’s no space to segregate women who have mental or medical illnesses.

    "We’re basically warehousing people," said Susan Neely, an executive director who specializes in public safety issues in Drewel’s office. "We know we have a problem."

    Snohomish County has committed $87 million to build a new jail in downtown Everett and retrofit the existing jail. That expansion would provide 1,040 beds. The county found the money to build the jail without raising taxes, but officials estimate the increased costs of operating the expanded jail will be $13.1 million a year.

    The Washington Legislature, recognizing the growing expenses counties face in providing criminal justice services, gave counties permission in 1995 to ask voters to approve sales tax increases to pay for jails.

    Since then, voters in 12 counties, including Island, Kitsap, Pierce and Thurston, have approved jail sales tax increases.

    Snohomish County Council Chairman Gary Nelson said he believes a sales tax increase is necessary. If the federal government were to step in and cap inmate populations at the jail, it’s possible the county might have to turn some inmates loose.

    "This gives people security and the peace of mind to realize that these individuals who have violated the public trust are going to be placed in the jail for the appropriate duration of time," he said.

    Jeff Sax, the council member who chairs the law and justice committee, said he will probably support putting the sales tax increase before the voters. But Sax said he’s not convinced the county couldn’t find efficiencies or other ways to pay for operating the new jail.

    He wants to see if other pots of money, which have been designated by past councils for specific purposes, could be freed up to pay for criminal justice needs.

    "It’s obvious to me that if people want something, they’re going to pay for it," he said. "I don’t feel we’ve done a good enough job proving to people that we need the money."

    Council member Dave Gossett said nearly 70 percent of the county’s $160 million general fund goes toward criminal justice, including the sheriff’s office, the prosecutor’s office and the court system. Other departments that aren’t funded with special fees — such as the auditor, assessor and the finance department — collect or manage the money to pay those bills.

    He said one could look to King County, which has made an unpopular decision to close county parks in the wake of a budget shortfall, for examples of likely places to cut back.

    The idea that Snohomish County could just go into the budget and find up to $13 million to operate the jail without consequences isn’t realistic, he said.

    "It would be extremely difficult," Gossett said. "We’d make cuts, and we’d hear some screams about the things being done the way they’re hearing screams down in King County now."

    You can call Herald Writer Jennifer Langston at 425-339-3452

    or send e-mail to langston@heraldnet.com.

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