Snohomish County voters Tuesday Sept. 17 apparently turned down a small sales tax increase to pay for the operation of a new jail that will be under construction soon at the county complex in downtown Everett.
The one-tenth of 1 percent tax would have raised about $9 million, a large chunk of the $15 million that will be needed to operate the new facility, which is expected to open by 2005. The tax would have added $1 to the cost of a $1,000 television set or $30 to the cost of a $30,000 truck.
In early returns, passage was failing by a few percentage points.
County officials will be disappointed if the measure doesn’t pass. They had hoped that a low-key campaign and voter education about the high cost of public safety would carry the day.
“We tried to get out, and used this as an opportunity to talk to the voters about what we’re doing and how we pay for it,” said Susan Neely, public safety program manager in the county executive’s office. She was involved in the public education part of the program.
What happens next is uncertain, assuming the measure goes down.
The Snohomish County Council could resubmit the measure to others in the future. The county also might have to look at slicing other programs paid for by the county’s general fund in order to pay the whole cost of the jail operation.
“Other counties have gone back on the ballot again” for a similar tax, she said. “I just don’t know. It will be a matter of consultation with the council what we do from here.”
She said Snohomish County Executive Bob Drewel would make a recommendation.
The tax’s failure would not have much effect on the 2003 county budget. If the jail is to be funded entirely through general fund revenues, the budget squeezing would start in earnest in the 2004 budget, Neely said.
The measure went to the ballot as county officials started construction on a $86 million jail by selling long-term bonds and not increasing taxes.
The new jail, which will be connected to the existing jail, will increase rated capacity from 477 to 1,040 beds to relieve overcrowding.
The jail expansion is part of a major drive to increase space for county workers by also building new office space. It is hoped the move eventually will save the county about $2 million a year it now pays in rent for office space in downtown Everett and elsewhere.
Jim Haley writes for the Herald in Everett.
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