Recession? Pshaw.

Anyone who thought the weight of economic anxiety would crush two sales tax proposals on Tuesday’s special election ballot in Spokane County underestimated the power of redemption.

Voters across Spokane County in one case – and the Public Transit Benefit Area in the other – handed relatively easy two-to-one victory margins to ballot measures that will provide millions of essential dollars to the community’s bus system and the emergency communications network used by its uniformed public safety workers.

Both measures were, in essence, second chances. Neither the 0.1 percent sales tax for the communications system nor the 0.3 percent sales tax for the Spokane Transit Authority had significant organized opposition. But asking citizens to fish into their pockets for a tax increase activates an inherent opposition that is never easy to overcome. Add talk of a national recession, aggravated by the personal financial pressures imposed by soaring gasoline prices, and any tax increase is a ballot challenge.

Yes, advocates had solid cases to make, but they had baggage to account for, too. How they handled that challenge should be a lesson to them and anyone else who expects to go after taxpayer support on future ballot requests.

Only six months earlier, the emergency communications measure lost by 288 votes. Turning around and resubmitting a second request for the same level of tax increase normally wouldn’t sit well with voters, except that proponents learned and heeded three important lessons. One, they did a more orchestrated job of getting their message out. Two, they made it clear that the revenues would restore the popular Crime Check system. And three, and most important, they added a sunset clause that will make the taxing authority go away after 10 years unless voters agree to extend it. The voters agreed to take a chance but demanded and got a limit on their exposure. The county has a decade in which to demonstrate it can be trusted.

That’s the situation the STA was in four years ago when it asked voters for a sales tax increase that would restore revenues lost through an initiative that slashed motor vehicle licensing fees. Reluctantly, STA supporters agreed to a sunset clause, knowing that although it would handicap long-range planning, it was necessary to overcome voter distrust sown by years of inept administration.

The sunset clause helped pass the tax for five years and gave STA time to install professional management that has compiled an impressive record of efficiency. This time around, no sunset clause – and no sweat. When the 2004-approved tax expires next year, it will continue at the same level, indefinitely, thanks to strong voter confidence.

Admittedly, securing pennies for essential community services is an easier task than some steep property tax requests waiting around the corner for such projects as schools, roads, jails. But the willingness of public officials to tie their own hands long enough to show voters they can be responsible is a strategy all tax-funded entities should be willing to employ.