Funds not allotted for network

A lack of communication has landed the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department in a position where it doesn’t have the money it expected to replace the region’s aging emergency communications system.

While the county has earmarked more than $4 million over the next five years for the system, other jurisdictions haven’t been as willing to allocate resources for the project.

Turns out other jurisdictions don’t want to use their portion of the newly passed public safety tax for the system as the county does. Instead, they’re using it for things like keeping officers on the street and paying for rising jail costs. And now Sheriff Mark Sterk is pushing for another increase in the sales tax.

Spokane Valley is using its $600,000 annual share of the criminal justice tax for increased law enforcement costs other than communications, said Spokane Valley City Manager Dave Mercier.

Spokane is using its 2005 share of the tax to pay for rising jail costs, said city spokeswoman Marlene Feist.

“Even though it’s allowed by law, it never was intended to pay for raises or increased costs,” said Spokane County Commissioner Phil Harris.

Using the money in that manner certainly doesn’t fit in with how Spokane County officials had hoped the money would be spent.

They had hoped to use the money for the communications system, though the ballot language on the sales tax only required that the money be used for public safety and criminal justice.

“The concern I have is moving forward and fixing the system where everyone benefits whether they’ve participated or not,” said Spokane County Commissioner Todd Mielke.

The county request for communications funding came after the vote and too late in the budgeting process, said Mercier, who added that Spokane Valley isn’t ruling out future participation, and would like to be included in discussions about the system.

Commissioners decided Tuesday that the county should meet with cities, fire districts and other would-be beneficiaries of a new communications network.

Now Spokane County Sheriff Mark Sterk is encouraging county commissioners to consider going back to taxpayers for more money.

“We’re still facing a communications system that’s broke and very likely could fail on us,” Sterk said.

There is the possibility of some grant money from the state and feds, but Sterk said even with the county’s contribution that won’t be enough to replace the system.

However, a new .1 percent sales tax – 10 cents on a $100 purchase – could specifically be earmarked for a communications system, sidestepping the present issue where individual cities get to decide how to spend their portion of the criminal justice tax, said Sterk.

Such a tax would also free up the tax already passed to be used for other public safety and criminal justice issues.

And like the first tax, it would likely be instituted for just five years.

If the Board of County Commissioners placed a new .1 percent sales tax on the ballot in April or September, and voters passed that tax, it would be the third sales tax increase approved by voters in two years.

In addition to the criminal justice and public safety tax, local voters also approved a .3 percent increase for the Spokane Transit Authority.

A new .1 percent bump would bring the local sales tax to 8.6 percent, up from 8.1 less than a year ago. That means spending $1,000 in goods would cost $5 more in sales tax than it did in August 2004.

Sterk conceded that another .1 percent tax increase could be “a hard sell.”

“It makes me nervous,” he said.

But Sterk added that he believed voters would approve the increase if they were informed about the need for the new system.

Commissioners didn’t decide Tuesday whether to ask voters for the additional tax money, but they encouraged Sterk to pursue other money, including Homeland Security funding for the communications project.

They also indicated Tuesday that they were willing to hire five more sheriff’s deputies paid for in part with criminal justice tax funds and federal grant funding.

Two of the deputies would be assigned to patrol duties, and one would be assigned to the department’s criminal intelligence unit. Two others, paid for with money from the County Road Fund, would pursue overweight trucks, which damage county roads.