PORT ANGELES – If Clallam County enacts a sales tax increase to fund arts and culture programs, voters will decide.
County Commissioners Monday revisited the idea of a one tenth of one percent sales tax increase that would go to fund non-profit arts, heritage and cultural programs.
The state allows local areas to add the tax, and it can be enacted through a vote of the people or by the governing board.
During a work session, Commissioner Randy Johnson echoed concerns he made earlier this summer that the timing of the tax is tough.
“I would think about our time, not only our current budget and all the issues going on. I also think about what I consider some real basic needs. One was OMC, one was Fire District Two, which didn’t pass. I’m just having a hard time reconciling these. If we really believe in this, I’m not saying, I’m a negative, but I believe that this absolutely has to go out to the people for a vote,” Johnson said Monday.
Commissioner Mark Ozias says he also believes it would be best to put it to a vote of the people, if the county does decide to move forward.
“I think that this would be appropriate to put out on ballot and to ask the voters to consider whether they would want to tax themselves for this purpose or not. I personally would be happy to help advocate for it, as something that I personally see a tremendous amount of benefit from, but I do think that it would be most appropriate for the voters to weigh in,” said Ozias.
One argument for a commissioner vote was that the non-profit organizations couldn’t afford to run a public campaign to advocate for the public vote.
Commissioner Mike French says he sees both sides of the issue.
“I can see this both ways. With the (city of Port Angeles) housing tax, we did it both ways. We did a vote of the people. We also did ‘councilmatic’ authority. I’m very sympathetic to the fact that it’s a big ask for these organizations to put on a campaign. So the direction I’m hearing is, this is something that we might want to consider putting to a public vote in the future,” said French.
The county will regroup on the tax idea and plan to return later with a possible measure that may go to voters. It is already too late to put a measure on the ballot this year.