Kennewick voters rejecting The Link

The second time may not be the charm for advocates of upgrading Kennewick’s Three Rivers Convention Center.

Initial returns Tuesday night showed Kennewick voters were rejecting a sales tax increase to support the $35 million proposal. The tax would pay for a 110,000-square-foot expansion of the convention center complex, including improving the Toyota Center and adding a Broadway-style theater.

With 72 percent of ballots counted, voters were rejecting the request from the Kennewick Public Facilities District with 4,599 opposed to 4,051 yes votes, or 53 percent to 47 percent. Auditor officials said about 9,000 votes are left to be counted.

Still, backers said they remain confident that when the remaining ballots are counted Wednesday, the tide will shift.

“You kind of always gulp at the first count,” said Barbara Johnson, chairwoman of the public facilities district board. “We’re optimistic. We’re only 500 votes apart.”

Tri-City voters have shown a strong disinclination to raise taxes to support public facilities.

If the early returns hold, Tuesday’s vote will be the third time a public facilities district has asked Tri-City voters to increase a sales tax, and the third time voters have said “no.”

Washington law allows local governments to form public facilities districts funded by voter-approved sales taxes of up to two-tenths of a percent.

In August 2013, voters in all three cities rejected a pitch from the Tri-Cities Regional Public Facilities District for a regional aquatics center in Pasco. Three months later, Kennewick voters rejected a convention center expansion with 57 percent saying no.

Tuesday’s request would raise Kennewick’s sales tax by two-tenths of a percent or two cents on a $10 purchase, generating about $3.5 million per year until expiring in 20 years when bonds for the $35 million to $40 million project are paid off.

The expansion would add 50,000 square feet to the convention center, 30,000 square feet to the Toyota Center and a 2,300-seat Broadway style theater called “The Link” between the two.

It would replace aging equipment, including the 28-year-old ice plant for the hockey arena and the old locker room. The project would have made Toyota Center more accessible to visitors with disabilities, as well by upgrading parking and entrances and increasing seating.

Kennewick’s request for the full two-tenths allowed under the facilities tax rules has ramifications for the Tri-Cities Regional Public Facilities District. Passage in Kennewick would preclude it from making its own sales tax request in the future.

The regional district suspended meetings over the summer pending the outcome of the Kennewick vote.

The district could disband or reconfigure itself to exclude Kennewick. Neither Richland nor Pasco currently has a public facilities district tax, although Pasco may ask its voters to reconsider the aquatics center plan next year.

This story was originally published August 2, 2016 at 8:46 PM with the headline "Kennewick voters rejecting The Link."