Spokane7
62°
November 4, 2009 in City
Jail sales tax, I-1033 fail; R-71 favored
Former Spokane County Commissioner Kate McCaslin, left, and Tom Power, of Proposition 4 opposition group Jobs and Opportunities Benefiting Spokane, react as the proposition appears headed for defeat Tuesday evening. They were at Press bar on South Grand Boulevard.
(Full-size photo)
Voters seemed wary Tuesday of ballot measures that would cost them money or mandate too much more change.
Kootenai County voters shot down a pair of ballot measures that would have increased the sales tax for 10 years to pay for a jail expansion and provide property tax relief.
In Washington, they turned thumbs down to Initiative 1033, new spending limits on state, county and city governments that elected officials had said were so radical they’d wind up hamstringing services. Voters were narrowly passing Referendum 71, a measure to ratify expanded rights to domestic partners, but the final decision might not be known for days.
Spokane voters were narrowly rejecting a new $33 million bond issue for city fire equipment and stations, but fire officials were trying to remain “cautiously optimistic” that they would gain enough votes in later counts. There’s no such wait for a proposed change to Spokane’s City Charter: Voters soundly rejected a package of amendments that would have set new rules for wages, workplaces, neighborhood development and environmental protection.
Kootenai County Jail measures
Voters said no to proposals to raise the sales tax by a half-cent for 10 years to pay for a jail expansion and provide property tax relief. Though a majority of voters supported the measures, the approval levels failed to reach the needed two-thirds margin.
The first measure sought approval for $57 million worth of bonds for jail improvement to be repaid over 10 years, but only allowed the bonds to be sold if voters also approved an increase to the sales tax. The no votes were slightly edging out the yes votes in unofficial early ballot counts Tuesday night.
The second asked whether the county should raise its sales tax by a half-cent for 10 years – to 6.5 percent – to pay for property tax relief and the jail expansion. Voters were approving that measure with 54 percent of the vote, still well short of the supermajority needed for passage.
The two measures represented the county’s third attempt in four years to address jail overcrowding and its last opportunity to expand the jail using the local-option sales tax, which expires at the end of the year.
County Finance Director David McDowell has said preliminary projections show that about $136 million would have been raised over 10 years, enough to provide $68 million for construction, which includes interest payments, and $68 million for property tax relief.
The county has been struggling with space problems for years as its 325-person jail is regularly pushed to capacity. Measures to expand the jail failed in 2005 and last year, when voters shot down a $147 million measure that would have expanded the jail and updated public safety facilities.
The proposal this time would have added 457 beds to the jail to meet county needs for at least 10 years. The price tag dropped to $57 million largely because of declining construction costs and a plan to use precast cells shipped to the site instead of concrete poured in place.
County Commissioner Todd Tondee has said that if the measures failed, the county will rentspace at other jails at an estimated cost of about $52 million over a 10-year period.
I-1033
This was the latest attempt by Washington anti-tax activist Tim Eyman to restrict government. Initiative 1033 would have attacked the state’s, counties’ and cities’ abilities to spend money, allowing their expenses to go up each year only by a formula that accounts for inflation and population growth. Any money collected above that level would have been set aside and returned the following year as property tax rebates.
R-71
Social conservatives sought to block expanded legal protections for domestic partnerships that the Legislature approved last spring for same-sex couples and seniors who want to live together without getting married. Those rights were labeled “everything but marriage” in the legislation, but opponents said it essentially allows marriage for same-sex couples.
Referendum 71 was narrowly passing in Tuesday ballot counts.
Spokane Proposition 4
Named the Community Bill of Rights by supporters, this proposal offered voters the chance to add nine amendments to the Spokane City Charter. It was drafted in a series of meetings sponsored by Envision Spokane with neighborhood groups, labor unions and environmental organizations and fine-tuned through town hall-style meetings.
It failed nearly 3-to-1 in votes counted Tuesday.
Spokane Proposition 1
City voters were also asked to approve a $33 million bond issue for new fire engines, equipment and stations. It needed a 60 percent supermajority and in Tuesday’s tally had collected only 58.6 percent.
Two Fernwood residents dead after Monday accident 
southie4573 on November 04 at 6:57 a.m.
Thank you all who voted for Ref 71!
Thank you fair minded WA state residents who don’t believe that our gay friends and colleagues are not second class citizens.
johnclarke on November 04 at 7:01 a.m.
33 million for fire equipment? Sure, we can afford that - along with the 100k plus salaries for the fire chiefs. Um hello, we pay enough taxes for police and fire as it is. Stop it with the bond issues already.
lewis8457 on November 04 at 7:50 a.m.
until we get some solutions to get the SPD back to the world of protecting us I will vote down everything they or the fire people want.
it is time to make a stand
philipgregory on November 04 at 8:04 a.m.
In this state taxpayers can’t get a break, but homosexuals are praised - that stinks…
Objective_Observer on November 04 at 8:17 a.m.
Hopefully, this will not be the end of the fight against property taxes. Personally, I will vote no on every levy, and bond that comes my way. I should not have to pay more on these just because I own property. It is the poor who utilize services more and therefor who should pay more. Seriously, how many calls for the SPD to go up on the South Hill vs. east side.
A very low income tax would be better than the property tax, with the following stipulations:
1) All increases must pass by at least 60%, but can be decreased by 50% (not even majority) vote.
2) Go ahead and let everyone have a $5-10K exemption. No other exemptions. Just keep it simple.
3) Make it a flat rate for everyone. This would be fair. Actually the rich would pay more since the more they made above the exemption, the higher a percentage of their income would be above it and therefor subject to taxation.
The result would be that homeowners could count on their mortgages remaining the same (assuming a fixed rate) even if their income didn’t rise.
Seriously, why do non-homeowners feel that because of their station in life, they have a right to the property of others. We should not have to lease our homes and land from the government. It is property and should be treated as such — our own personal property.
Abolish the property tax!
IHike4Fun on November 04 at 8:37 a.m.
I would like to see a measure to have Spokane County become part of Idaho.
eagleproducer on November 04 at 9:18 a.m.
Objective: First of all, your viewpoints are anything but objective and border on lunacy. How would you expect poor people to pay for the services they receive from government, they are freakin’ poor! You did unwittingly point the finger in the right direction though, because relying upon the poor and middle class to fund state services under the regressive tax structure in Washington IS the problem with state funding and always will be until a progressive income tax is implemented.
Non-home owners pay property taxes and get none of the long term benefits of ownership. Do you really believe landlords don’t factor taxes into their rents? Do you really believe business owners eat that portion of potential profit, or do they pass along their costs as well? You are just starting to realize home ownership is a suckers bet where you pay a bank tens of thousands of dollars extra with the hope that your investment will increase in value and when you die that property stays here.
A flat rate tax still places lower income people at significant disadvantage, that is why those on the right wing who constantly favor the wealthy bring it up all the time as a one size fits all solution.
If you desire fairness in taxation, rail against the cap on FICA. Currently, every dollar an earner makes over $106,800 is not subject to FICA. A citizen who makes $50,000.00 a year pays 7.65% on every dollar they make contributing towards FICA, while a millionaire pays less than one percent and that number plummets further as one advances in riches. Two million, less than one half of one percent, three million, less than one quarter of one percent, and on, and on. If the cap on FICA were removed and that extra revenue distributed to the states, I’ll guarantee your property taxes would go down. Guarantee. So if you really want taxation fairness and your property taxes to go down, you’ll lobby McMorris-Rogers and other elected representatives to remove the cap on FICA and make everyone pay the same amount on every dollar they earn.
It’s the poor and middle class who need a tax break in the U.S. and the only ones who would have received sufficient benefit from I 1033 were the wealthy. Congratulations fellow Washingtonians for sending Tim Eyeache’s latest shill job for the elite to defeat in a resounding m’fn manner!
MrNatural on November 04 at 10:15 a.m.
Equality and civic duty are still barley alive and well in Washington. Thank you fellow voters for seeing that human rights are for all persuasions and that our duty as citizens to preserve the quality of our community by contributing our fair share to it is the best way to live.
runnybunny on November 04 at 10:41 a.m.
PhillipGregory- Our State’s taxes rank around 26th in the US. Your homosexual problem is hard to understand. I would assume we love everybody. I wouldn’t want to think about all the sexual perversions that occur within the heterosexual or any other group. There’s a bell curve of diversity in nature. If God created everything, then he created the bell curve which shows the diversity of everything including you. How can one get so upset about normally occurring anomalies? Where on the bell curve of traits does one draw the line and why there? Differences will exist and always have existed. This battle is about a fantasy wrapped up in fear and nonsensical dogma. Replace fear with love and the peace of God will descend upon you. :)
chelsita on November 04 at 10:50 a.m.
hooray for ref 71! disappointed in Spokane’s vote, but whateva! go king county!!! at least some of the people GET it. anyhoo, how’s that meth problem going spokane? any oxy robberies today? let me know and I will send a corrupt popo over to help ya!
southie4573 on November 04 at 6:57 p.m.
Thank you WA state for passing Ref 71 - thank you Western Washington!
People in Seattle always make fun of Spokane for being so redneck - some of these comments on here - prove them right.
This is Washington not Kentucky! Why do all the morons live here - please move to Idaho if you hate it here.
Objective_Observer on November 04 at 9:02 p.m.
Spoketucky,
The purpose of the government is not to redistribute the wealth and level the playing field. It is to provide an environment of liberty where people can make the most of their lives whatever the outcome may be. No one has the right to the earnings of another person. If your lot in life is so miserable, you should have made better decisions earlier in life.
Flat taxes are fair in that the more a person makes or consumes, the more they pay. The poor have no right to procure the earnings of others through welfare just because they are too lazy to better their situation through the disciplined life required to succeed in a free market. And fairness is not the job of the government anyway.
What you fail to realize is that the property tax is a regressive tax anyway. There have been plenty of poor people who have lost their homes because their tax rates exceeded their income.
Your class warfare mentality will not help you achieve anything positive in life or make you an asset to society. The sooner you learn this, the better your life will be.
As for renters passing the cost on to tenets, so what? That has nothing to do with the fact that private property is not something we should have to lease from the public. So what if people reap benefits from it. They have often made sacrifices to acquire it that others are not willing to make. If they come out with higher socioeconomic status, good for them. If others want the benefits of that higher status, then they should have to work hard to better themselves, not make others do it for them.
runnybunny on November 05 at 7:50 a.m.
Absolute capitalism with no safety nets for those that struggle is a fantasy notion. I’d love to go fishing with you in Alaska because I don’t have to outrun the Bear, I only have to outrun you. There are many factors that allow someone to succeed. Attitude and hard work are one, but connection, family wealth and natural abilities have a great influence. I wouldn’t want to be your neighbor if a tornado came through and took out my house. You’d just look out your window to be sure your gladiolas were still ok and leave everyone else to solve their problem. That’s unamerican in my opinion. The absolute independent ideal is a fantasy. You are a part of a community, like it or not.
SugarShane on November 06 at 9:38 p.m.
Wow objective observer seems like a total douchebag. Poor people are poor because they made bad choices in life, not becasue they had less access to education or fewer opportunities in life. The system of capitalism is set up so that the rich get richer and the poor stay exactly where they are… forever. Welfare helps to feed children jackass, and is not always collected by “someone too lazy to work”. Im sure there are those that take advantage of the system, but look at the way the wealthy take advantage of the system. Socialism seems like a dirty word if you are wealthy, but if it was your children struggling in poverty or your family going without food, I bet you’d be the first guy in the welfare line. Why is the idea of helping people out so hard for the wealthy to swallow? They are so afraid that someone might get some of their wealth that they will step over the guy sleeping in the street and mutter something like get a job you bum. I think you might want to remember that our entire military force is comprised of the poor, or that 1% of the population controls 95% of the wealth.
eagleproducer on November 08 at 10:08 p.m.
sugashane: Objectiveobserver is just more honest than most conservatives in expressing their Social Darwinist leanings.
Where was Mr. Objective when the financial sector received more taxpayer funds in a matter of days under TARP than was ever dedicated to the war on poverty?
calvinandhobbes on November 10 at 11:28 a.m.
Spoketucky? What in the world are you talking about? conservatives have social darwinist leanings? i am a conservative and i dont know anyone who is also a conservative who believes in the myth of darwinism. Charles Darwin said this in his book The origin of species on page 217 (if you have the book from Penguin Classics London) when he was talking about the human eye.
” To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic abberation, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.”
As for conservatives being socialist, the Mirriam Webster dictionary defines socialism as follows.
1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3 : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done
conservatives are not socialists. however, our current president has shown himself to be so time after time. and no i’m not rascist. i would be against anyone in the world who is socialist no matter what the color of his skin. i have good friends and reletives who are black so nobody can truthfully say that i am rascist. however, truthfullnes doesnt seem to concern any liberal that i know.
calvinandhobbes on November 10 at 11:32 a.m.
Also i find that the passing of R-71 repulsive in the highest degree. the Bible (KJV) says in
” Lev 20:13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”
in the Bible times the sin of sodomy now know as homosexuallity,was a crime always punished by death. God himself says that it was and still is an abomination!