Spokane approves 0.1% sales tax for safety campus

Spokane City Council voted 6–1 on Oct. 14 to approve Ordinance C36949, a 0.1-percentage-point local sales and use tax for the Community Safety Campus, behavioral-health integration in public-safety systems and emergency preparedness. The city says the tax will take effect Jan. 1, 2027.

The rate amounts to 10 cents for every $100 in taxable purchases, or $1 per $1,000. Food and prescriptions are among the necessities identified as exempt by the city and KXLY.

A separate 0.1-percentage-point Spokane County sales tax, approved Oct. 6, is also scheduled to take effect Jan. 1. Together, the two measures add 0.2 percentage points to applicable purchases within Spokane; that is an increase from the new measures, not the total local sales-tax rate.

Campus and crisis-response funding

The city identifies the Rock Pointe East Building on Boone as the Community Safety Campus site. The Spokesman-Review reported the campus is valued at $18.5 million and that roughly one-third of the new tax revenue is initially intended to pay debt associated with its purchase.

The Spokesman-Review estimated the tax could generate more than $7 million annually. That is a projection, not a confirmed collection. The city lists the campus, behavioral-health integration and emergency preparedness as purposes for the revenue; the newspaper also reported funding plans for emergency management and responses to mental- and behavioral-health crises and homelessness.

Spokane received a $3.4 million state grant after requesting nearly $4.5 million, according to the Spokesman-Review. The grant is to support two licensed mental-health clinicians in the city’s 911 dispatch system. The newspaper described the sales tax as providing ongoing support for positions and programs created with grant funding.

Vote and objections

Michael Cathcart cast the lone vote against the ordinance. The Spokesman-Review reported that he broadly supported the proposed investments but wanted voters to have a role, at least an advisory one. KXLY also reported his concerns about the process and the absence of a voter-approved plan and sunset.

Other council members argued that the campus and related investments were urgently needed, the Spokesman-Review reported. The council adopted the tax under state authority cited in the voting record; KXLY reported that voter approval was not required.