In a story by Karina Andrew, the Coupeville Town Council voted to send a letter to the Island County Commissioners in support of the Commissioners proposal for a sales tax increase of one-tenth of 1%. According to a provided fact sheet, the tax revenues would be used to fund affordable housing but also may be used for “constructing mental and behavioral health-related facilities” and “evaluation of mental and behavioral health treatment programs and services.” This additional possible use listed in the fact sheet was the basis for the lone dissenting vote from councilmember Rick Walti.
What they said:
Councilmember Rick Walti worried that the wording of the proposal would give county commissioners the flexibility to divert some of the generated funds toward another project and dilute the efficacy of the tax… Walti said that while affordable housing and mental health are each important topics that deserve attention from the county, he thinks lumping them together in one tax is a dishonest use of funds and will ultimately be less effective than focusing on each individually. “I think there’s two separate issues here, and I think the county is trying to do both of them with one area, and they’re not going to be very successful,” he said. “If we’re going to ask the folks in the communities to raise their taxes for housing, then it should go for housing.”
Councilmember Pat Powell said that putting more money into affordable housing could have far-reaching benefits, such as helping mitigate the worker shortage by providing places for workers to live. “This is one of my highest priorities. I’m 100% in favor of this. I think the cost to us – to our businesses and also the cost to us as consumers – this is a cost that, if we don’t start to provide that affordable housing, will be a huge issue for us.”
