The Battle Ground City Council won’t put its support behind a ballot measure that would impose a .1% retail sales tax in the county to fund body-worn cameras, contending the city has already funded public safety measures and its own transportation issues take precedence.
During its June 6 meeting, the council unanimously voted down a resolution in support of the tax measure put forth by the county. If supported by a majority of voters, the ballot measure would impose the tax to fund public safety, which includes plans for body and vehicle dash cameras for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
If approved, the tax increase is projected to generate $12 million annually. Of that, 60% would go to the county and 40% would go to cities on a per-capita basis. Based on population, Battle Ground is projected to receive $368,000 annually from the tax.
Councilors took issue with the perception that the city would pay for county services due to the uneven split.
Councilor Shane Bowman said the city has already made its police force a priority, whereas the county has struggled with staffing issues at the sheriff’s office.
City councilors expressed disapproval of the Clark County Council’s decision to forgo incremental increases to its general fund levy over multiple years, which could have been used to pay for the measures the tax would cover.
“We’re subsidizing their lack of political will, really,” Councilor Troy McCoy said.
McCoy said the county has approved the 1% general fund increase in only three of the past 11 years.
“We have fully funded our police, and the county council is just looking to hide behind the shield of going out to the voters just because they have sloppy leadership,” Councilor Adrian Cortes said.
If approved, Battle Ground would be able to “supplant” its current public safety funding with revenue from the tax to free up funds for other uses through the city’s general fund.
Deputy Mayor Cherish DesRochers said since cities could supplant the funding from the tax for other city services, it seemed disingenuous for cities to support.
“I feel like it’s kind of deceiving to tell people it’s a public safety tax, and then tell the cities they can spend it on whatever they want,” DesRochers said.
McCoy said Battle Ground’s citizens support the police. He went on to say “they probably will vote for it, but we need to, I think, have a very frank and open conversation and be very clear on where this money’s going to go toward if it’s passed.”
Bowman didn’t expect other cities to issue a pointed statement against the ballot measure.
“This is an easy way for the municipalities to say ‘it ain’t our deal, the county is doing it,’” Bowman said.
After some deliberation over how to proceed, the council agreed to move for approval of the resolution, before all of the councilors voted against it. Bowman remarked the maneuver was indicative of longtime councilor and former mayor Bill Ganley, who was known for making a point during his decades on council before he died in 2016.
“This is Mr. Ganley 101,” Bowman said.
Part of councilors’ consternations had to do with Battle Ground’s own consideration of a sales tax for transportation. During meetings in April and May, the council considered its options to put forth a tax through its transportation benefit district in order to fund road preservation.
Councilors revisited the potential for a tax during the meeting and chose to wait until June 21 to decide whether to put the tax up for a vote. The city can put up to .3% of a sales tax before voters. If approved, each tenth of a percentage increase would generate about $800,000 in sales tax in 2023, according to city projections.
The council can also enact a .1% sales tax for transportation on its own, but to tax at higher levels, it would require a simple majority vote. Unlike the public safety sales tax, the city would collect all of the revenues, not just a portion of the funds, through a transportation measure.
Battle Ground currently has roughly $23.3 million in deferred street maintenance.
City staff previously stated maintaining the current condition of the roads is not sustainable in the long run and making improvements is even harder.
“I walk the roads every day. They stink,” Mayor Philip Johnson said. “The road right out in front of (city hall) needs to be fixed.”
Johnson is in favor of addressing the issue with the city’s streets sooner rather than later, something Bowman agreed with.
“It costs a lot more money to fix that road because we didn’t maintain that road, than it does if we maintained it to begin with,” Bowman said.
