Momentum builds behind Lewis County public safety sales tax

Former Grays Harbor County Commissioner and new Community Integrated Health Services CEO Vickie Raines struggled to contain her shock Tuesday as she realized that Lewis County had never passed a local sales tax to fund local police and the criminal justice system.

"I'm just surprised that you haven't done this before," she said Tuesday afternoon during the first meeting of the Lewis County Law and Justice Council

"Lewis County takes a certain amount of pride in being lean and being efficient and making every dollar stretch," Lewis County Manager Ryan Barrett said in response. "Unfortunately, we are staring down the cold hard fact ... That our current revenue streams are being outstripped by rising costs."

The cost of maintaining the criminal justice system in Lewis County is rising. Whether it is the cost of paying police officers, attorneys and jail staff, or paying for medical and mental health services and liability insurance, just like at the pump, it seems to many local officials that the price is always going up.

The new 24-member Lewis County Law and Justice Council convened Tuesday afternoon and spent most of its first meeting confirming exactly that.

Lewis County Undersheriff Kevin Engelbertson and Lewis County Sheriff's Office Corrections Chief Chris Sweet confessed to leaving positions unfilled at the county jail out of the necessity to save costs.

A sudden hike in the cost of providing medical services in the Lewis County Jail reportedly forced the department's hand.

"We've had to leave positions open, specifically our corrections have had to leave three to five open in the last couple of years," Engelbertson said. "We've got at least one deputy position open, and a lot of that's generated by increased cost, primarily by jail medical."

Centralia Police Chief Andy Caldwell warned that rising costs, including those paid to the local jail, threaten useful tools like the department's Flock Safety camera system.

"You know, we had to increase our jail budget by about $130,000 last year, and we're still looking at blowing that out of the water this year," Caldwell said.

According to Chehalis Police Chief Randy Kaut, his department has largely avoided the negative impacts of rising costs so far, but he worries for the future as the department faces necessary expansion to serve the city's soon-to-be annexed urban growth area, which measures roughly 3,857 acres.

To top it all off, Lewis County Budget Administrator Becky Butler warned that state policies created in recent years only add to costs that were already going up consistently. New statute of limitations rules on tort claims have increased the number of lawsuits facing local and state governments. That has, in turn, driven rising liability insurance costs for the county, which is part of the Washington Counties Risk Pool.

According to Butler, Lewis County currently faces 13 tort claim lawsuits. Washington Counties Risk Pool members face roughly 250 cases collectively, she said.

As previously reported by The Chronicle, case load limits for public defenders implemented by the Washington state Supreme Court last year, which went into effect Jan. 1, may force the county to hire more public defenders for the same amount of work. Repeated reporting from multiple news outlets around the state has suggested that the policy intended to improve the quality of life for public defenders could have drastic financial impacts on local governments.

The solution to those rising costs, it appears, is likely to be an additional sales tax of 0.3% in Lewis County, more commonly known as a public safety tax. Review of public safety taxes was the primary agenda item for the council's Tuesday meeting outside of other administrative tasks, such as electing a chair and vice chair of the body.

The council elected local municipal prosecutor and Lewis County public defender Rachel Hunt as chair of the council and Chehalis Deputy Mayor Kate McDougall as vice chair.

Washington state began allowing local governments to collect a public safety tax starting in 2016. If the tax is implemented primarily by a county government, its revenues are split - 60% for the county and 40% split among the cities within. The tax can only be implemented through voter approval.

According to Butler, the sales tax would have brought in around $6 million in 2025 to be spent on public safety and criminal justice in the county. One third of the revenue is required to be used toward criminal justice or fire protection. That could mean superior courts, municipal courts or local fire protection districts.

Assuming the council decides a sales tax is the next step forward, dividing up who gets what is likely to be the biggest debate.

Lewis County officials have spoken about the possibility of a public safety tax in the county for quite some time. During a county commissioners meeting earlier this year, Butler remarked that the county had discussed the tax almost yearly during recent budget seasons, especially during a particularly difficult 2025 budget process.

Lewis County is particularly hungry for the revenue as rising costs in the Lewis County Sheriff's Office once again required "raiding $1.2 million out of our roads fund," as Lewis County Commissioner Lindsey Pollock put it on Thursday afternoon. It's a practice that has been ongoing and caused Pollock to vote against approving the county's 2026 budget late last year.

Pollock was the sole vote against the budget as it passed 2-1 with support from commissioners Sean Swope and Scott Brummer.

Multiple neighboring counties have already approved public safety taxes in previous years. Thurston County approved a public safety tax to help fund the Thurston County Sheriff's Office in 2024.

As Raines' reaction might suggest, Grays Harbor County approved a public safety tax long ago. During the meeting, she recalled the tax was approved overwhelmingly by local voters. The county approved that tax in 2016 and implemented it on the first of the year in 2017.

"I think you should do it. I think you're leaving money on the table," Raines said. "It's a sales tax. It doesn't go to impact people's homes ... It has an impact on everyone that comes and purchases within your county, whether they're traveling through to go to some other destination."

For previous reporting by The Chronicle on the Lewis County Law and Justice Council and a public safety sales tax, visit https://tinyurl.com/2pzf753v.

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