Brian Coddington, Communications Director, 625.6740
Tuesday, August 15, 2017 at 4:32 p.m.
This afternoon at the regularly scheduled public hearing of the Spokane County Board of Commissioners, the Board unanimously voted in favor of withdrawing the County’s Levy Lid Lift Ballot Proposition from the November 2017 General Election ballot. The Board based this decision on the Washington State Legislature’s recent approval of the imposition of an estimated increase of $0.80 cents per $1,000 of assessed value property tax effective January 1, 2018, to address the Washington State Supreme Court’s decision in McCleary, et al. v. State of Washington. As a result of the Washington State Legislature’s action and the increased tax burden on Spokane County property owners, the Board believed it necessary to rescind the Levy Lid Lift Proposition.
Chair of the Board of Spokane County Commissioners, Al French stated, “I cannot in good conscience vote to keep a Levy Lid Lift Proposition on the ballot when our Spokane County Citizens will already be faced with a dramatic increase in property taxes from the State. We are still planning on placing the Levy Lid Lift back on the ballot in August of 2018 in anticipation of the property taxes from the state reducing after 2018. In the meantime, to address our 2018 budget shortfall of $10 Million, we are going to be working with our department heads in the County and our municipal partners to present options to the community in the coming weeks.”
As part of the strategy to address the shortfall, the Board of County Commissioners have asked department heads throughout the County to present reduced operating budgets for 2018 to be considered at a series of public budget hearings to be held throughout August and September.
Commissioner French was joined today by Commissioner Josh Kerns, City of Spokane Administer Theresa Sanders, City Councilmember Candace Mumm, Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Haskell, and Detention Services Director John McGrath in announcing a joint commitment to reduce costs associated with the Spokane County Detention Facilities.
“Detention Services make up a significant portion or our yearly County budget. We cannot effectively begin a conversation about identifying significant cost savings at the County until we address the rising costs of providing services to our incarcerated population.” Said Josh Kerns, Spokane County Commissioner. “With the help of our partners at the City of Spokane, we hope to present viable options that reduce the costs of operating our Detention Facilities and continue to keep our citizens safe.”
“We are working together to explore ways to reduce costs and best invest the community’s money,” Sanders said. “The city has learned some important lessons that will be directly applicable to this partnership.”
“Many of the city’s most successful endeavors have come from leveraging partnerships,” Mumm said. “This is an opportunity for the city to build on a number of recent successful partnerships with the county.”
