At its meeting today, the Thurston County Board of Commissioners passed an ordinance creating a county-wide Home Fund, extending the 0.1 percent increase Olympia added to its retail sales taxes to the rest of the county in a bid to fund affordable housing.
Olympia implemented its own Home Fund program through a voter initiative in 2018; there will be no increase in the sales tax rate there.
The tax increase will likely take effect in or by July, according to Commissioner Carolina Mejia.
County Manager Ramiro Chavez said the housing affordability problem and its impact on increasing homelessness in Thurston County have continued to get worse since 2018. He added that this problem requires “prompt action to mitigate economic impacts, enhance public safety, and reduce human suffering for certain County residents.”
Chavez noted that 60% of the home fund would be used to construct affordable housing, including emergency, transitional, and supportive housing. It would also fund the construction of behavioral and health-related facilities.
Under the new ordinance, housing low-income individuals or those who earn 60 percent below the county median income, including individuals with disabilities or behavioral health disabilities, veterans, senior citizens, people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless, unaccompanied youth, and domestic violence survivors.
“lt is kind of an expensive upfront proposition, but there have been studies after studies that show investments of this kind save the community money,” District 1 Commissioner Tye Menser said during his discussion for the approval of the ordinance. “This is a good way to go for the community.”
An interlocal agreement among participating jurisdictions would outline the roles and responsibilities of combining the tax fund for housing services.
Meanwhile, District 2 Commissioner Gary Edwards maintained his stand that this issue should be decided on the ballot instead of a council decision as this involves a large amount of funding.
“I really do feel that any time we’re going to put up a plan to put more money towards a project like homelessness that this should always go in front of the voters,” said Edwards. “Any time we deny voters the right to vote on an issue, we continue to slip further away from democracy.”
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psterry
Tax increases should be up to the voters. If the voters agree that it is a good deal, they will vote for it, and be reassured that their voices are heard.
Tuesday, January 25, 2022 Report this
jimlazar
Olympia did NOT create its Home Fund via voter initiative.
The City Council approved an ordinance, and referred it to the voters for consideration. That is a referendum, not an initiative.
There IS a city initiative process. It has been used twice. The City initiative process is different from the State initiative process in that the City can choose to enact the language of an initiative RATHER than refer it to the voters.
The first one was for the designation of the area between 4th and 5th Avenues for development into a park. That measure was then approved by the City Council, eliminating the need for a public vote.
The second City initiative was to create a fund to pay for community college tuition and fees. Signatures were collected, but voters declined to approve it and it went away without a trace.
There is no initiative process for the County. We could include that in a County Charter, but we have never approved a charter, so we operate at the County level under the default form provided by state law.
Tuesday, January 25, 2022 Report this
LennyGreenstein
Commissioner Edwards has it right. The voters should decide whether or not taxes are raised.
Tuesday, January 25, 2022 Report this
TonyW33
I don't believe that this diminishes our representative Democracy in any way. Last year our elected government passed House Bill 1590 and it was signed into law by our elected Governor. That law allows for the cities and counties to enact a very specific tax increase for a very specific purpose. If in this fall's election the people choose to remove those representatives from office over this issue and change the direction of our state, that's Democracy in action. Tax law may be repealed by the elected representatives. Direct Democracy in as complex a society as ours would certainly fail. Representative Democracy works just as ours does and it doesn't always make everyone happy with the result.
Wednesday, January 26, 2022 Report this
JW
Another unaccountable tax increase. When Olympia passes their sales tax initiative for poetry and arts can we get the commissioners to extend that to the rest of the county too?
Wednesday, January 26, 2022 Report this