Liberty Lake staff preview city'level 0.1% public-safety sales tax for November ballot

The City of Liberty Lake will ask voters in November whether to levy a 0.1% city sales tax dedicated to public safety, city staff told the Community Engagement Commission on March 18.

City staff member David and advisor Mark McEvoy summarized action taken by the City Council the previous night: the council approved a resolution to place a city-level measure asking voters to authorize a 0.1% sales tax for public-safety purposes. "What they're currently doing now through a committee called Safe and Healthy Spokane is putting together the framework for another ballot measure," McEvoy said, describing how county and city measures could appear on the same ballot but remain distinct.

McEvoy walked the commission through how the statutory cap works and how revenues would be distributed: under the statute the total allowable levy for this public-safety sales tax is 0.3%. "Point 1% has already been levied," he said, "so the capacity remaining is 0.2%. The city by statute is limited to levying point 1%." He added that if the county levies the tax, the county retains 60% of revenues and distributes the remaining 40% among jurisdictions on a per-capita basis; if the city levies the tax, the city keeps 85% and sends 15% to the county.

Commissioners asked how proceeds would be spent. McEvoy said the city's intended uses include covering rising police costs and facility needs tied to a recently adopted facility master plan. "The city's intended use would be to cover the rising cost of providing police services in the city and facility costs that are associated with the facility master plan that council recently adopted," he said.

Several commissioners discussed strategic timing: placing the city's measure on the ballot before any county measure could ensure the city captures a larger share of locally collected revenue, they said. Commissioners also cautioned staff to keep the commission's work educational rather than advocacy: "It's an education campaign," McEvoy said, adding that commissioners may help craft talking points to explain differences between scenarios without advocating for a vote.

The commission did not take a formal vote on the matter; the presentation was an informational update to prepare commissioners for outreach and education efforts ahead of the ballot.