SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane City Council has approved a resolution that will add a proposed sales tax to the November ballot.
Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown proposed the "Community Safety Sales Tax" two weeks ago that will be set at one-tenth of a percent.
According to numbers released by the mayor’s proposal, the new tax would cost the average Spokane resident and visitor around $1 for every $1,000 they spend. Several necessities such as food and prescription drugs would be exempted.
Mayor Brown says the tax increase is expected to generate an estimated $7.7 million per year. Fifteen percent of the funds would go to Spokane County.
The mayor says the roughly $6.5 million per year that stays in the City of Spokane will be “dedicated to community safety enhancements." According to a press release, some of the enhancements include:
- Spokane Fire - Replacing outdated vehicles and equipment, making improvements to fire stations, and potentially building new stations
- Spokane Police - Relaunching the Neighborhood Resource Officer program and setting up a traffic safety unit
- Community Resilience - Developing and implementing critical safety plans and expanding the city’s capacity to serve the community in cases of extreme weather.
Brown's proposed tax came just months after Mayor Brown unveiled a levy that would have taxed homeowners $1 for every $1000 of assessed value on their home. That proposed levy will not be on the November ballot after the city council voted to remove it from the ballot. The proposed sales tax from two weeks ago replaced the proposed levy from a few months ago.
City Council voted 5-2 in favor of the resolution. Councilmembers Michael Cathcart and Jonathan Bingle voted against the resolution.
If the tax is adopted, it would go into effect in early 2025.