“Criminal justice … public safety … the sky is falling …” Sound familiar? It should. This mantra precedes every request by our elected officials for a tax to offset the cost of law enforcement. “Criminal justice” or “public safety” taxes are ballot regulars promoted by our elected officials to offset their overspending and subsequent budget woes.

County voters will be asked to renew the one-tenth of 1 percent public safety sales tax in the Aug. 18 primary. Originally approved in 2004, the tax requires only one-third of the money received be dedicated for criminal justice purposes. Spokane County stipulates in its ballot proposition that the remaining portion of the tax shall be used for “public safety purposes,” a catchphrase for 20 county law and justice departments. In other words, the tax is a slush fund for a hodgepodge of equipment and services on the budget chopping block – nice to have, but not necessary.

It’s not as if we have ignored our civic duty. As citizens, we have continually supported new taxes in recent years on behalf of public safety. Five criminal justice and public safety taxes are presently on the books, each to the tune of one-tenth of 1 percent. You know them by their moniker – criminal justice, juvenile/jail, mental health, public safety, Crime Check. Each of these taxes shifted significant criminal justice and public safety costs from the general fund to the public’s shoulders. This sleight-of-hand maneuvering of funds allows our county and city elected officials to continue their spendthrift ways and plug holes in their bloated budgets.

The county’s Public Safety Tax Summary, a record of how the tax was spent by the county over the past five years, speaks volumes. The record shows the county has relied on this tax for ongoing expenditures, such as salaries, for all five years – a budget snafu that will continue the county’s spiral into a California-like financial doom. This year alone the tax paid for 37.5 full-time employees at a cost of $2.67 million, or over 60 percent of the tax revenue. Simply put, our elected officials are hedging their bets that the voters will give them another blank check to use at their discretion – only this time it’s for 10 years.

This public safety tax is not necessary for three reasons: (1) it is duplicative of the criminal justice and juvenile/jail taxes already in place. One will not terminate and the other was just renewed for five years; (2) it enables the county commissioners to shift funds, continue spending and ignore the tough budget decisions, such as changing the county’s Cadillac health plan and benefits; and (3) a sales tax hurts the most vulnerable in our society, such as the elderly and those on fixed incomes. It’s not one-tenth of 1 percent that hurts; it’s the cumulative 8.7 percent.

As a county commissioner when this tax was proposed, I voted against putting it on the ballot. At the time, I told The Spokesman-Review, “There’s no accountability to the taxpayer for the tax collected.” I argued that the parameters of “criminal justice” and “public safety” were too broad. Five years of indiscriminate expenditures have shown this to be correct.

You won’t find an elected official in the county, Republican or Democrat, opposing this tax. They’ve grown accustomed to the spoils and want this windfall to continue. For instance, Commissioner Todd Mielke claims they’re not imposing anything new (is that a reason to continue the tax?); Commissioner Mark Richard argues it’s the lesser of two evils (public safety, public …); Commissioner Bonnie Mager admits the county sorely needs the money (time to make the tough budget decisions!); Spokane Valley Mayor Rich Munson believes it’s important in times of “constraints and concerns” (why start now?); while Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich says, “It’s roughly $5.5 million of our budget.” (Strange, since total annual revenue from the tax is roughly $4.3 million.)

The ballots are in the mail. As S-R reporter Jonathan Brunt wrote, “Fearing that Spokane County residents are feeling taxed out, county commissioners painstakingly have selected dates for tax votes that they believe favor approval.” Aug. 18 is certainly one of those dates selected to specifically avoid the onslaught of coming tax proposals. Send them a message – we are taxed out.

There are only three other counties with a higher sales tax – King, Pierce and Snohomish. Let’s not join this exclusive club. Vote no on Proposition No. 1.