Public safety sales tax doubts emerging already. Benton County needs to be on the offensive

Every once in a while someone sends the Tri-City Herald a letter to the editor that is so significant we highlight it in an editorial.

The recent submission from John Ludowise of Richland is such a letter.

He traces the history of Benton County’s public safety sales tax from when it was approved by voters in 2014 to how it is being spent today.

Ludowise writes about the rise in crime and how the tax has been managed over the years, and in the end, he says he is “just not seeing the benefit.”

His concerns should serve as a screeching, early alarm to officials in Benton County.

The public safety sales tax is scheduled to sunset on Dec. 31, 2024 unless voters approve its renewal — and it is imperative that they do.

Chances are the measure will be on a ballot sometime next year, and while that seems a ways off, we think Benton County officials may have a tough time convincing enough citizens that this extra, local sales tax is worth it.

So now is the time for them to figure out how to sell it.

While Ludowise is just one person who has publicly voiced his opinion on the issue, we imagine there are plenty of other people who agree with him.

But without the tax, crime in our community would be so much worse.

The 0.3% on goods and services brings in around $8.5 million in annual revenue for Benton County and pays for additional police, prosecutors and other employees involved in criminal justice. Some of the tax money also goes to anti-gang efforts and organizations that support the youth in our community.

Benton County cannot afford to lose 58 law enforcement officers and 10 people in the prosecutor’s office. If anything, the community needs more crime fighters — not fewer.

Eliminating the funding from the public safety sales tax would be catastrophic for every city and county department involved in our criminal justice system.

Ludowise’s full letter can be found in our Letters section online and in our Dec. 1 print edition. Here are some key points he makes that county officials should be prepared to address when the public safety sales tax goes to voters.

Ludowise writes:

“The fund was so vital that it had amassed $15.6 million by March of 2018 and the county commissioners could not figure out how to spend it (Herald, March 15, 2018). There is still a surplus, but money is being spent (Herald, Oct. 12). Ironically, many of the programs funded by the tax seem to be similar to what the “Defund the Police” people advocate, such as funding social services rather than police departments. As of Oct. 24, Benton County has seen a record high of 14 homicides (Herald, Oct. 24) and that follows 2021 when there were 10 homicides, the previous record … I guess I’m just not seeing the benefit.”

As his letter points out, citizens still remember the contentiousness that surfaced four years after voters approved the ballot measure. By 2018 the county had amassed millions of dollars from the tax, and county commissioners went to great lengths to find ways to spend it when city law enforcement officials began asking for more of a share.

We said at the time that the controversy risked voter support for the tax in the future.

And now we’ve got a letter to the editor affirming that fear.

If Tri-Citians think crime is terrible now, think how much worse it will be if police departments are gutted because the public safety tax fund is not renewed.

Ludowise writes that he isn’t seeing the benefit to the public safety sales tax. We hope that, in time, he will.

And it will be up to Benton County officials to try and make that happen.

This story was originally published December 1, 2022 at 8:30 AM.