The local taxes on your Spokane ballot this November

This November, voters in Spokane will see two sales tax measures on their ballots: the city’s Proposition 1 and the county’s Measure 1.

In Spokane city proper, Proposition 1 would implement a sales tax increase to fund “community safety” and help plug the city’s budget deficit. Countywide, Measure 1 would renew a sales tax that has funded the county’s juvenile criminal justice system for nearly 30 years.

While last year’s ballot measures of the same names were both controversial, this year’s batch is decidedly less so, but we’re going to explain and provide context for each so you can make an informed decision.

Jump to Spokane’s Proposition 1 here .

Measure 1

Spokane County voters will decide whether to keep a sales and use tax of .1%, or 1 cent of every $10 spent, that generates revenue for the county’s juvenile criminal justice system this November. That money currently goes toward “operating, maintaining, repairing, equipping, re-equipping, financing and remodeling of juvenile detention facilities and jails,” and if voters choose to renew the tax, will continue to fund the same thing

A “yes” vote on the measure would keep taxes as they are; “no” would reduce the overall sales taxes consumers pay at the register by .1%.

The tax applies to most purchases in Spokane County and represents a little more than 2% of the 9% overall sales tax paid in the city of Spokane. The full sales tax is less elsewhere in the county because it includes all state, county and municipal taxes in one bucket.

The tax, called the Juvenile Detention Facilities and Jails sales tax, has been in place since 1995, when Spokane County voters first approved it. Voters have renewed the tax five times since then.

If approved in November, it would be in place from January 1, 2026, to December 31, 2035. In 2024 alone, the tax is expected to generate about $15.6 million in revenue for the county.

Members of the committee who wrote the section in the Voters Guide in support of the measure include Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels, Spokane County Commissioner Amber Waldref and former Spokane County Superior Court Judge Harold Clarke III. The group represents bipartisan support: Nowels is a Republican, Waldref a Democrat.

“As a Republican county sheriff, a Democrat county commissioner and a former superior court judge, we don’t always think alike, but we all agree that voting ‘yes’ on this measure will help protect community safety, support youth and families and continue funding essential services for our community,” their statement reads.

There isn’t a “no” argument stated in the Voters Guide.

Not that Measure 1

Not all Measures 1 are the same. One of the most controversial items on last year’s ballot bore the same title plus a lot of baggage. The previous Measure 1 was a new sales tax twice the size of this year’s Measure 1 that was designed to bring in $1.7 billion over three decades that would, in part, fund two new jails and other unidentified “public safety” programs.

Instead, it drew barbs from an ad hoc social justice group that said Spokane County didn’t need any new jails. It was the only election in Spokane County last year in which left-leaning groups outraised right-leaning ones, and Measure 1 was soundly defeated in November.

This year’s Measure 1, by contrast, extends an existing tax that pays for upkeep of current facilities. There is no organized group opposing the measure, according to Washington’s voter guide . Voter’s pocketbooks would not feel any lighter if the measure is approved, as it is just renewing a current tax.

Further reading

For further reading on the ballot measure, check out the following:

Spokane County Measure No. 1 – Voter Guide

Proposition 1

If you live in the city of Spokane, your ballot will ask you to vote on Proposition 1, which decides whether the city can impose a one-tenth of 1% (or just 0.1%) sales and use tax to fund “enhanced community safety.” What exactly “enhanced community safety,” means, however, is up for interpretation.

State law states that that one-third of all money received from the tax must be used solely on criminal justice and fire protection purposes, although the law also says this can be interpreted broadly to include funding programs that reduce the amount of people interacting with the criminal justice system — for example, efforts to reduce homelessness or improve behavioral health.

The tax is estimated to generate $7.7 million every year, although 15% of that is required by state law to go to Spokane County, leaving the city with $6.5 million per year. If Proposition 1 is passed by a simple majority of voters in the city, the new sales and use tax would go into effect by Jan. 1, 2025 and has no expiration date. It will cost the average Spokane resident $1 for every $1,000 they spend. Necessities like food, prescription drugs, mortgages and property rentals, and menstrual health products are exempt from the tax.

The ballot language states that the funds collected from the tax will also pay for “other public safety operations such as the Spokane Fire Department, Spokane Police Department, Municipal Court and Office of the Police Ombudsman,” (although the latter office was recently renamed the Office of the Police Ombuds by an ordinance from the Spokane City Council).

Why is the city running a tax on the ballot?

Since early in her term, Mayor Lisa Brown has been wrestling with a budget deficit of at least $25 million left by previous administrations. Some of her first efforts to plug the hole have included retirement incentives for Spokane police officers and city administrative staff, voluntary furlough days for her cabinet members and eliminating vacant positions that are deemed unnecessary. Though those efforts have cut the projected deficit nearly in half — down to $14 million, according to Brown’s administration — they do not completely fill the gap.

One of Brown’s first ideas for addressing the budget deficit was to run a property tax levy increasing tax by $1 per $1,000 of assessed value on the ballot in November. That plan would have raised around $38 million a year, with the tax increase running in perpetuity. But, she quickly pivoted from that plan after facing intense community pushback from business owners and people like Spokane County Treasurer Michael Baumgartner (who is also running to replace Cathy McMorris Rodgers as the Representative for the 5th Congressional District).

Instead, she chose to run Proposition 1: a much smaller, but regressive, sales tax that she says will reduce the burden on property owners and pull revenue from visitors to the city, who also benefit from public safety improvements.

According to The Spokesman-Review , Brown’s administration has been looking at cuts up to 10% per city department as part of efforts to dig the city out of its deficit hole. If approved by voters, the sales tax is intended to fund community safety needs as the city tightens its belt, and potentially insulate departments like Spokane Police Department  and Spokane Fire Department from upcoming layoffs.

The sales tax is supported by the Spokane police chief and Police Officers Guild, the Spokane fire chief and firefighters union, and the majority of the city council.

What will the tax pay for?

Beyond the one-third of the money that has a clear spending mandate from the state, the ballot measure uses the vague phrase “community safety” to describe where the rest of the dollars will go. The city has an existing budget hole to consider before adding public safety services, but Brown told The Spokesman she was “ hopeful most of it will go to new investments .”

The explanatory statement submitted by the city to the Washington State Voters Guide states that “If the Community Safety proposition is not approved, the proposed operational enhancements will not occur or will have to be funded from currently unidentified sources.”

Last week, Brown’s office put out a graphic showing how her administration plans to use the funds collected for the next two years.

Supporters of the sales tax believe that investments in “community safety” will result in increased staffing for the Spokane Police Department, investments in life-saving equipment and training for Spokane Fire Department, and efforts to reduce the backlog of cases in both the criminal justice system and the Police Ombuds Office.

However, skeptics fear that the ballot language is vague and leaves too much authority in the hands of current and future city governments to determine what exactly “community safety” entails, equating the tax to an “irresponsible blank check.”

“The proposal is intentionally vague allowing funds to be diverted from law enforcement, firefighting/emergency services and criminal justice,” wrote Spokane City Council Member Michael Cathcart and frequent city council public commenter Dennis Flynn, as part of their argument against the tax in the Washington State Voters Guide.

“Shockingly, some City leaders have pushed to fund unrelated projects, like street infrastructure and climate initiatives, using public safety tax dollars — moves that would erode public trust and dilute any benefits of the tax,” Cathcart and Flynn wrote.

Representatives from the committee that prepared the arguments in favor of the tax included Randy Marler, president of Spokane Firefighters Union; Trevor Winter, a Spokane police officer; and Gavin Cooley, the CEO of the newly formed Spokane Business Association, which is funded by local businessman and owner of the Trent Shelter Larry Stone .

“Political rhetoric won’t keep our streets safe or help people in times of crisis,” they wrote. “Spokane Police and Firefighters, along with many in our business community, endorse this measure because it will add staffing and services residents need now and provide sustainable and accountable funding to meet future needs.”

Eleventh-hour promises?

Brown has expressed her intent to collaborate with the Spokane City Council on a piece of legislation that would create a sunset date for Brown’s proposed sales tax, should voters approve it in November. The council’s legislation would state their intent to stop collecting the tax in 2035 and to create a special revenue fund to manage the uses of all money collected from the sales tax.

However, because the sunset date and revenue fund were not written into the language that will appear on voters’ ballots, future councils could change their minds about the sunset date and revenue fund.

This legislation has not yet been passed and we have not yet seen a draft, but we will update the story if it passes in the future.

Further reading

For further reading on the ballot measure, check out the following articles:

Spokane County Proposition No. 1 – Voter Guide

Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown pivots to smaller sales tax proposal for November ballot – Emry Dinman, The Spokesman-Review

In abrupt pivot, Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown calls to postpone public safety property tax levy – Nate Sanford, The Inlander

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