Supermajority a no go for Pasco; backers encouraged to petition

The Pasco City Council rejected an outgoing member’s last-minute attempt to get a two-thirds vote requirement in place on municipal tax and fee increases.

But that doesn’t mean the issue is completely dead.

Councilman Bob Hoffmann, who proposed the supermajority requirement, was encouraged by one colleague to start a citizen petition now that he may have extra time on his hands.

And Mayor Matt Watkins — one of two incumbents to return to the council in January — suggested the new board consider it in the future. His comment, made during the Dec. 4 meeting, drew a few nods from the councilmen-elect seated in the audience.

A supermajority requirement means that five of the seven council members would need to approve an increase in municipal taxes, rates and fees. Currently the council operates on a simple majority system, meaning four affirmative votes are required for passage.

City staff prepared a resolution calling for an advisory ballot in a special election, leaving it up to the voters. However, staff recommended the council not pass the resolution.

The motion failed on a 4-2 vote. Councilman Chi Flores sided with Hoffmann.

Retiring Councilman Tom Larsen struggled with how to vote, initially saying “I don’t know.”

Over the next six minutes, a sometimes tearful Larsen said he didn’t know what the proposal meant, asked if he could give his vote to another council member and suggested they wait until later.

Mayor Watkins tried to help Larsen by recommending that a “yes” vote would be in line with the councilman’s position on taxes over his years of service. He took time to explain the motion to Larsen, pointing out that it would be one of his last votes on the council.

Then, Watkins asked if Larsen could confer with wife Joan Larsen in the audience, but City Attorney Leland Kerr advised against it because of procedural rules.

In the end, Larsen was registered as abstaining from the vote because of his confusion and indecisiveness.

Hoffmann raised the idea in November, saying he’s concerned about five new members coming on the seven-member board with no institutional history. A 12-year council member, he said he recognizes that it can be easy to raise taxes and ultimately end up with big government.

The cities of Yakima, Spokane and Spokane Valley, along with Pierce County, all have adopted local supermajority requirements.

Flores, quoting Jason Mercier with the Washington Policy Center’s Center for Government Reform, said Pasco voters have overwhelmingly supported a two-thirds vote requirement when they’ve had a chance to vote on it.

“It’s important to remember that the supermajority vote requirements do not make increasing taxes impossible, as demonstrated by Spokane; it simply requires lawmakers to reach a greater consensus before raising the financial burden that they’re placing on our citizens,” Flores read.

Councilman Al Yenney earlier was in favor of the supermajority idea, but changed his mind because of the high costs of an advisory ballot and the timing of the proposal one week after the general election and less than two months before their terms are up.

“I’ve had great faith in the citizens of Pasco and I think if there was a big rate increase or tax, the people sitting in the audience can take and influence the council probably more so than myself sitting up here on the council,” Yenney said. “So even though I support small government, small taxes, at the moment I think this should go out to the citizens.”

He agreed that for now the council should act exclusively on behalf of the people, but said he hopes Hoffmann starts a petition once they’re off council.

This story was originally published December 9, 2017 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Supermajority a no go for Pasco; backers encouraged to petition."