Criminal justice sales tax: 'If we lose this, it will be devastating'

YAKIMA, Wash. -- During the 2004 campaign, backers of Proposition 1 promised they would use a proposed sales tax increase to fight crime and handle more criminal cases. Wash. --

The campaign coincided with another bruising budget drama playing out at the courthouse: fewer prosecutors to handle the growing caseload, fewer sheriff's deputies on the road, and fewer beds occupied at the Juvenile Justice Center in Yakima.

"We saw the train coming at us. We saw county revenues going down and we were being squeezed every year," recalled Dan Fessler, head of the county office that supplies defense attorneys to indigent offenders. "The demand far exceeded the resources available."

Voters listened, and on Nov. 2 of that year agreed to increase Yakima County's sales tax by three-tenths of a cent for six years. This year, that will amount to an extra $36 in sales tax for each of the county's 225,000 residents.

With that money, police departments put more officers on the streets and in the schools, updated equipment, and outfitted new police cars with their combined 40 percent share of the tax revenue. The county received the other 60 percent and focused much of it on tackling a backlog of criminal cases that had reached 1,500.

Agencies receiving the money promised to account for every dollar they spent.

A Yakima Herald-Republic analysis of the public spending since the tax went into effect in early 2005 -- all $36 million of it -- found that supporters have kept their word to spend the money only on law enforcement and to focus on expansion of services.

One exception is the Sheriff's Office, where there are fewer commissioned officers today than there were in 2005 because, Sheriff Ken Irwin says, the cost of wages, health care premiums, gasoline and vehicles are rising faster than the funds available.

The number of deputies has fallen from 71 in 2005 to 66 this year.

The department's budget, meanwhile, has grown, from $7.9 million in 2005 to $9.1 million this year.

The starting wage for deputies has, as a result of contract agreements, risen from $40,934 in 2007 to $45,181 this year. The county has agreed to boost salaries to $48,417 by July 2010.

To hire, train and outfit a deputy sheriff costs close to $70,000 for the first year, Hagarty said.

The 2004 approval by Yakima County voters bucked a trend of failed tax measures over the previous decade. The campaign was led largely by Republicans, including Irwin and then-Prosecutor Ron Zirkle.

In five years, the sales tax money has allowed county departments to build on what they received from the general fund budget -- to expand programs and staff, add more prosecutors and defense attorneys in the courts, hold more juvenile offenders, and open a District Court office in Grandview to serve Lower Valley residents.

The city of Yakima, among other things, is paying for five patrol officers, a detective and a forensic lab manager with the $1.55 million it's received. And smaller communities such as Naches and Harrah have been able to contract for more hours with the Sheriff's Office for patrol services.

In addition to promising what would be done with the sales tax money, county commissioners made another promise: Tax proceeds would be kept separate from general county government revenues and operations.

That also has happened.

The move was designed to provide a clear accounting of where the money went. County departments that share in the revenues decided how the money would be allocated.

There were some hiccups at first.

Zirkle questioned plans by Selah and Wapato to use some of their sales tax revenue for programs outside of law enforcement. Wapato, for example, wanted to use the money to operate a youth center, which it said would divert youth from crime.

That issue was settled when Attorney General Rob McKenna concluded the ballot language of Proposition 1 was clear: The money could be spent only on law enforcement.

This year, Selah is spending its share of the three-tenths sales tax for one police officer and a school resource officer; Wapato is paying off the purchase of nine vehicles, including a jail van.

Supporters are now back before the voters, seeking to renew the three-tenths sales tax for an additional six years beginning in 2011.

'We did what we said we were going to do," said Harold Delia, an administrative consultant for Yakima County courts and the Juvenile Justice Center.

Officials say failure in the Nov. 3 election would put the county and cities back where they were before the sales tax went into effect.

At that time, the back end of the system, which starts with cops on the street -- prosecutors, defense attorneys, and court staff members -- was near collapse.

Fessler said the system couldn't handle the number of cases referred with the existing staff, evidenced by that backlog, which has been reduced since 2008 to fewer than 1,000.

Echoing Delia, Fessler said the three-tenths tax has made the system more efficient -- and effective.

"It certainly has saved the county justice system from failing up to this point in time," he said.

The heavy caseload was a symptom of a problem that pervades economically depressed areas like Yakima County, where poverty breeds crime.

"Whether we like it or not, the demographics of this county drive a significant criminal justice set of issues," Fessler said.

While the additional tax revenue opened a new source of money for court and police operations, most cities and county agencies have come to rely on it.

County commissioners over the past five years have allocated more general fund money annually to the prosecutor, sheriff, clerk, assigned counsel and the courts to pay for operations and cover rising costs.

But funding has never kept pace with caseloads.

Mark Ware, assistant police chief for Grandview, said the three-tenths tax now accounts for 20 percent of his department's $1 million budget.

"In an ideal world, I'd like to say we would come up with that money" if voters decline to renew the additional tax, he said.

"To be honest, there is no way we could."

Derrick Perez is one of three line officers the city of Toppenish was able to hire last year under the three-tenths of a cent sales tax.

Perez, 34, is now the sole breadwinner for his wife and two daughters after his wife was laid off at the Wapato Police Department.

Should voters decide not to renew the county tax, Perez, Toppenish's only K9 officer, would be out of a job at the end of next year.

He said he would try to find work someplace else.

"I have no idea what I would do. I have two degrees, both of which are more toward the law enforcement side of this work. That is what I would try to do," he said.

During the 16 days he was on duty in September, Perez responded to 69 calls for service and made 31 arrests.

Perez's chief, Adam Diaz, knows what he would likely have to do with his 17-officer staff if the tax is not renewed.

"When you lose three people, you are moving people from detective to the road," Diaz said. "It really affects your ability to follow up on crime and do things like narcotics. The county will take a hit, certainly, if it doesn't pass."

Some types of cases likely wouldn't be pursued by the prosecutor's office, as the tax currently pays for 11 deputy prosecutors out of a total staff of 34 attorneys.

Although he hasn't considered what he would do if the measure fails, county Prosecutor Jim Hagarty speculates that crimes such as possession of small amounts of drugs and some property crimes wouldn't be prosecuted.

"We will do everything possible to continue to prosecute everything we can, but at the end of the day, we will be limited," he said.

Hagarty and Irwin are co-chairing the campaign to renew the tax.

Irwin describes the losses should the tax fail as catastrophic to efforts to reduce crime.

That is part of the message in a campaign to renew the tax.

If the measure fails, Irwin said he would have to lay off a quarter of his 66 commissioned officers.

Maintaining the current level of service in the future -- even with the three-tenths tax -- won't be easy.

The county's ability to provide general fund money for public safety is under assault this year from declining revenues and still-growing costs, so many agencies are looking toward the additional sales tax as a potential cushion to lessen the impact of cuts that are likely in 2010.

But the three-tenths itself is feeling the strain.

Just as a down economy has hurt sales tax income for general government, it also has cut the three-tenths money. From a peak of $8.3 million in 2008, the fund is projected to decline to $8.1 million this year.

Whether the economic downturn will ease in 2010 is unknown.

Hagarty said the people he has hired under three-tenths will continue to work regardless of what cuts he will sustain in his 2010 budget because their salaries are coming from a separate pot of money.

"The three-tenths will let me maintain that service. At the end of the day, the reduction in the budget won't cause the loss of those people," he said.

Delia, the administrative consultant for Yakima County courts and juvenile, said possible budget cuts imposed by county commissioners to balance the 2010 budget could force him to close one detention pod at the Juvenile Justice Center on Jerome Avenue in Yakima.

The three-tenths tax pays to operate 28 center juvenile beds, and county general tax revenues support another 28 beds. The 96-bed center has an average daily census of 43 detainees, though the population has spiked at times to as many as 59.

The rest of the center's beds are not being used, and there is no money budgeted to operate them.

Delia said a significant cut in the center's general fund budget could force capacity down to 42 beds.

Those in the private sector working to improve public safety are expressing support for the three-tenths tax renewal.

Bill Dolsen is president of the Dolsen Companies and incoming chairman of the Committee for Safe Yakima Valley Communities, a nonprofit grass-roots group formed in 2006 to build coalitions among community groups to combat crime and drugs.

"If we lose this, it will be devastating. I feel strongly about that," said Dolsen, who describes himself as generally not a fan of tax increases. "If you listen to the people in law enforcement, this will hurt them a lot."

"It will hurt the town, unfortunately," he added.

* David Lester can be reached at 509-577-7674 or dlester@yakimaherald.com.

WHAT THE TAX PAYS FOR
Here’s what the three-tenths of a cent criminal justice sales tax is paying for this year* by jurisdiction:

• Sheriff, $1.38 million: 17 deputies and cars** (14 are road deputies, 3 are assigned to a multiagency violent crimes task force)
• Prosecutor, $967,000: 11 attorneys, 3 staff members
• Clerk, $189,000: 4 deputy clerks, jury selection software
• Assigned Counsel, $1.125 million: 13 staff and contract attorneys, 2 clerical positions
• Superior Court, $308,243: 1 court commissioner, 2 court reporters, 2 family court staff members (1,500-case criminal backlog reduced 38%)
• District Court, $468,719: Lower Valley District Court, 3 court staff members, 1 security guard
• Juvenile Justice, $662,637: 12 detention officers, 2 probation officers, 28 juvenile beds (56 total operated)
• Yakima Police, $1.55 million: 5 patrol officers, 1 detective, 1 forensic lab manager, 3 vehicles**
• Sunnyside, $280,000: 4 officers, half-time public defender
• Toppenish, $175,000: 3 officers, 1 corrections officer
• Grandview, $170,000: 2 officers, part-time school resource officer
• Selah, $140,000: 1 officer, 1 school resource officer
• Union Gap, $110,000: 1 support personnel, 9 vehicles**
• Wapato, $88,000: 9 vehicles**
• Granger, $55,000: 1 vehicle**
• Zillah, $50,000: 1 officer
• Mabton, $40,000: 2 patrol vehicles**
• Tieton, $23,000: 2 patrol vehicles** and video equipment
• Moxee, $20,000: 1 officer partially funded
• Naches, $17,000: Contract hours for a deputy sheriff
• Harrah, $12,000: Contract hours for a deputy sheriff

Totals: $7.8 million,*** 96 positions

* Amounts are estimated because total sales tax receipts for 2009 will not be available until the first quarter of 2010.
** Vehicle purchases have occurred during the years the tax has been collected. Annual proceeds are used to pay off those purchases.
*** Some funds from the total projected 2009 revenue of $8.1 million are being kept in reserve and not being spent in 2009.

— Sources: Yakima County and individual police departments