SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane City Council is expected to discuss an amendment to the Community Safety Proposal.
According to the city, the Community Safety Proposal would be a new tax that funds city resources such as the Spokane Fire Department and Spokane Police Department.
If passed this November, Mayor Lisa Brown says the new tax would cost the average Spokane resident around $1 for every $1,000 they spend. Several necessities such as food and prescription drugs would be exempted.
In the original proposal, the mayor said roughly $6.5 million per year would stay in the City of Spokane and will be dedicated to community safety enhancements.
During Monday night’s meeting, council members will discuss how the Community Safety Fund will be a restricted fund. Mayor Brown and Council President Wilkerson say the restricted funds will go directly into safety measures such as the Office of Police Ombudsman and municipal court. Brown and Wilkerson say the fund will “increase transparency.”
They also proposed a 10-year sunset provision on the tax. "By proposing a sunset provision on this sales tax proposal, we ensure it is only in place when truly necessary. My administration has made significant progress reducing our structural budget deficit outside of this proposed sales tax, but implementing it for the next few years will ensure our ability to make new public safety investments our community wants,” Mayor Brown said.
According to a press release, the Brown Administration says they intend to use the funds to re-launch the Spokane Police Department’s Neighborhood Resource Officer, stand up a traffic safety unit, replace the Spokane Fire Department’s outdated vehicles and equipment, reinstate the Fire Academy, increase staffing in the Office of the Police Ombuds, and sustain Municipal Court operations to reduce strain on the jail, failure to appear rates, and re-arrest.