Never in her 43 years in law enforcement has Sheriff Susanna Johnson seen anything like the ravages of fentanyl, she said. It’s frequently a factor behind 911 calls, and 40% of the people they’re booking are on this synthetic opioid.
Driven by the drug crisis, the county is asking voters to say yes to County Prop. 1 to add a 0.2-cent sales tax on November’s ballot.
Ballots come out Oct. 17. A simple majority could pass it. If so, the sales tax would come into effect Jan. 1.
Billed as “Safe Snohomish County,” it’ll add two cents on every $10 spent on goods, excluding groceries or prescription medicines or auto purchases, and collect millions into city and county budgets.
It should bring $23.7 million a year to the county’s needs.
Half the money would fund more positions in law enforcement, jails, the legal system and the courts, and the other half for services. It would fund 33 positions in the sheriff’s office, including in the jail, and add about 20 positions to the County Prosecutor’s Office. Money would also go toward indigent defense costs.
It could provide funding for up to 15 existing positions in the sheriff’s office.
The other half would go toward constructing a secure drug-withdrawal detox center with 48 beds, a second community resource center and increase treatment services inside the jail, among other things. A small portion will go toward Emergency Medical Services to relieve pressure on emergency rooms and improve emergency response.
Having a withdrawal center would lessen recidivism, Johnson said. There are only two such centers on the westside of the state: One in Vancouver and one in Kent.
Opponents in the voter’s pamphlet write that the tax is on the backs of the public, and it is trying to solve a problem state officials allowed by allowing the drug crisis.
“This tax increase won’t solve the real problems and will hurt the people who can afford it the least. Before asking us for more, county officials should look at their budgets, reconsider priorities, and cut waste,” opponents wrote.
County Executive Dave Somers said the county hasn’t kept up with keeping the public safe. The county’s budget is increasingly going toward law and justice. He remembers some 25 years ago, the budget was 55% for law and justice. Now, it’s 75%. “We’re squeezing” other departments to fit law and justice, Somers said.
And he’s stuck, he indicated. “If I had any additional options to go for,” he’d do that versus asking for the new tax, Somers said during a 50-minute campaign presentation last week.
The campaign presentation, online on Zoom, was sparsely attended by about 15 residents, a handful of elected officials and at least three journalists.
The county hasn’t identified where the drug withdrawal center would be, but knows it would be a new building, officials said at the meeting. County Prosecutor Jason Cummings said a county workgroup found it would be less expensive to build a new one versus retrofitting an existing building.
It wouldn’t serve people in custody at the jail, officials said. It would serve people who are involuntarily detained to get treatment. A rule called Ricky’s Law allows involuntarily detainment due to a substance use disorder. A designated mental health professional can make the decision.
Almost $4.5 million of the $23 million raised would go toward the withdrawal center.
The community resource center would handle mental health counseling and substance use disorder. It would cost about $2.7 million.
The county hasn’t identified where the second one would be built, Somers said. The county’s first is in downtown Everett at the Carnegie Resource Center.
“What’s helpful about this balanced approach is it isn’t just locking people up,” Johnson said during the meeting. Otherwise, they’d just ask for money for more law enforcement and prosecutors, the sheriff said.
The sales tax earnings are bound for being used for law and justice purposes at the county. It “can’t be swept into the general fund,” Somers said.
Cities would receive the money, but are not under the same restriction.
Cities would get money based on population size and depending on if they have enacted their own local sales tax. Everett, for example, would get $3.27 million a year; Monroe, $600,000; Snohomish, about $337,000, from a county pie chart. Marysville would get $2.4 million; Lynnwood, Edmonds and Lake Stevens would get about $1.3 million each.
The county already has a 0.1 cent sales tax dedicated to Chemical Dependency and Mental Health, which the County Council authorized in December 2008 to cheers from both mental health professionals and law enforcement.
In 2016, the county attempted to get a public safety tax passed. It didn’t get through the 50% threshold, mustering just shy of passing that time around.
