Following the approval of an amendment to the City of Tenino’s gambling tax last month, Tenino City Councilor Jeff Eisel raised concerns about how the tax is affecting the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 5878, which sells pull-tab gambling games to customers at its bar.
The amendment was approved on Aug. 11 and was meant to bring the city gambling codes in compliance with new Washington state Gambling Commission guidelines, according to the council’s meeting agenda report, specifically raising the tax rate on pull-tabs and other gambling games like them.
However, according to Eisel, the amendment “apparently accidentally” raised taxes on nonprofits in Tenino like VFW Post 5878.
“I had opposed it. The rest of the council pretty much rubber stamped it, to be honest. And now we’re faced with it. I talked to the (city) attorney, and because we passed it, we can’t just say, ‘it didn’t happen, don’t bother paying the tax.’ So right now, the VFW is on the hook for the increased tax amount of 10%,” Eisel said.
Prior to the amendment, the tax rate on pull-tabs was 6.5%. Currently, Eisel is drafting his own gambling tax code amendment that he plans to bring forward for consideration in a future Tenino City Council meeting.
He believed the city attorney didn’t fully explain how the amendment approved last month would affect nonprofits.
“The lawyer said, and this is our attorney … gave us an ordinance to bring us into compliance with state law. It was presented to us as something we needed to pass. I take issue with that,” Eisel said. “I don’t think there’s anything that requires the urgency of passing it immediately without discussion. And because it was passed, we actually raised the taxes unintentionally.”
He suggested the council should make a motion to reinstate the old gambling tax code over the amended code approved last month, but no motion was made.
To avoid this situation in the future, Eisel also proposed having two readings for all city ordinances in the future in order to give residents more of a chance to speak about proposals under council consideration.
During the meeting, the council also approved an extension of the temporary contract for law enforcement services with the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO).
The extension pushes the contract’s end to Dec. 31, giving both Tenino city staff and TCSO staff time to finalize a long-term service contract.
The City of Tenino entered into the temporary contract earlier this year after dissolving the Tenino Police Department, as previously reported by The Chronicle.
The department’s dissolution came as the City of Tenino continues paying off interfund loans from budget misreporting issues between 2021 and 2023, which resulted in an estimated $1.6 million from the city’s restricted sewer and water funds being spent on non-sewer and non-water items. To learn more, read The Chronicle’s previous coverage at https://tinyurl.com/mkafabfm.
Currently, TCSO and city staff are discussing leasing options for the former Tenino Police Department building to be used as a possible substation for the TCSO, as the city’s finance
