Spokane City Council approved a 0.1% public-safety sales and use tax Wednesday, Oct. 14. The city says it takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, adding $1 to a $1,000 taxable purchase.[1][2]
Council Member Michael Cathcart cast the only opposing vote in the 6–1 passage of Ordinance C36949.[1]
The rate is one-tenth of one percent. Although the city's Oct. 15 announcement gives a conflicting 0.01% figure in its opening paragraph, both the council's adopted-measure description and Washington's authorizing law specify 0.1%. The announcement's $1-per-$1,000 example also matches that rate.[1][2][3]
The city plans to use the revenue for its proposed Community Safety Campus, behavioral-health response and emergency preparedness. It says the campus would bring together court and police operations now spread across three buildings leased from Spokane County. The city began examining a purchase of the Rock Pointe East Building on Boone in August; the announcement describes the campus as a planned project.[2]
The additional tax applies to transactions subject to state sales or use tax. State law restricts the proceeds to criminal-justice purposes, a category that includes diversion and mental-health crisis response, and requires annual reports on how the money is spent.[3]