Lewis County commissioner lobbies for countywide 911 sales tax ballot initiative at Chehalis City Council

Following the Chehalis City Council’s vote against signing a letter of support for a proposed countywide ballot initiative to fund the 911 dispatch center at a July 10 meeting, Lewis County Commissioner Scott Brummer was present at Monday night’s council meeting to further discuss the initiative with the councilors. 

The proposed initiative, drafted by the county commissioners, would create a two-tenths of 1% sales tax to support and improve the Lewis County 911 Communications Center if approved by voters. 

Brummer addressed the many concerns the councilors had revolving around the tax, from the City of Chehalis not having fair representation on the new 911 dispatch governance board which would be created with the tax, to city residents being taxed more than those in surrounding communities. He also stressed the main need for more 911 dispatch center funding. 

“911 is in desperate need of capital improvement, to get it out of the, basically the attic of the old historic courthouse, and get it to its own facility where it can be safely housed and be able to handle its growth,” Brummer said. 

Without the tax, most of the current funding for the county’s dispatch center comes directly from residents’ property taxes through the cities’ 911 user fees. If voters approve the tax, user fees are expected to be “drastically reduced.” 

“Those user fees are quite expensive,” said Brummer. 

He added the dispatch center is also in need of new equipment to provide complete dispatch services throughout the county. 

In the more rural areas, there are dead spaces where dispatch loses contact with first responders, putting both the responders and those they are trying to aid in danger. The main cause of this is aging radio and relay towers along with rough terrain. 

Some of the Chehalis City Council members still had misgivings about supporting the ballot initiative. 

“I’m kind of disappointed that (Lewis County) didn’t put so much money away,” Councilor Daryl Lund said. “As a business owner, if I want to buy something, I have to put money away and save up to buy it, cause I’m not going to pay interest to get it. Why didn’t we save up our money through the years so we didn’t have to do this?” 

Lund raised concerns the tax would open the door for future tax increases as well. Brummer agreed with Lund that he county should have been putting aside money for the improvements. 

He added the tax is meant to more fairly fund the dispatch center as opposed to the user fees currently being charged to cities. 

Mayor Tony Ketchum still declined to support the ballot initiative as he said he feels the creation of the new governance structure isn’t well established enough yet. 

“I’m still not convinced that all the ducks are in a row. If someone’s gotta ask me questions, I just don’t have enough information,” Ketchum said. “For me, everything that’s been said is still all just theoretical … There’s nothing concrete, so I don’t know how I sell that to somebody.” 

Brummer responded, saying local fire and police chiefs are working on educating voters about the issue, and the county is preparing a public information campaign as well.

Lund repeated concerns the tax would actually lower sales overall in Chehalis as he believes visitors would not want to come into town to shop anymore. Chehalis pulls in more sales tax revenue than other municipalities in the county, in part due to the number of dealerships and big box stores in city limits.

Brummer said Chehalis is already one of the largest sales tax revenue generators in the county. 

Brummer believes if the tax is approved by voters, those traveling to Chehalis would still come to shop. 

“I will say, regardless of where we live, we come into (Chehalis) to make those purchases … Even us East County folks, we come and spend our money in Chehalis. That’s where we shop,” Brummer added. 

Aside from East County residents coming to Chehalis to shop, those traveling through the county often stop for gas, lodging and shopping. Eric Eisenberg, Lewis County housing and infrastructure specialist, was also in attendance at Monday’s meeting and touched on out-of-county visitors. 

Eisenberg said since residents are already paying for dispatch services through user fees sourced from property taxes, out-of-county visitors drive up those user fees when calling 911 in the county without contributing any taxes themselves. 

“Every time theres a fire or car crash on I-5 or on (U.S.) Highway 12, all those trucks, all those tourists, all those people commuting through our county, they don’t pay anything even though our fire districts and police districts respond and offer them the protection of their services whenever they need them,” Eisenberg said. 

He believes if voters approve the tax, it will actually lessen the burden on residents with the visitors coming to the county contributing sales tax revenue. 

“It’s the only way in which you can make them pay their fair share, for these services which right now they get for free,” said Eisenberg. “And there’s a lot more of them then there are of us.” 

The Centralia City Council voted on June 27 to support the proposed tax.