A jar at the door of the Mossyrock Community Center Monday night symbolized what’s at stake when Lewis County voters submit their ballots this November.
The jar, which held $100 in fake currency, sat next to four nickels — a demonstration of what voters will be asked to approve to fund improvements to the county’s 911 call center. The visual comes after some supporters felt the proposal wasn’t well represented ahead of the 2023 election when it failed by more than 600 votes.
“I think what we have here is a great opportunity for Lewis County to plan for the future,” Frank Corbin, a supporter of the Citizens for Lewis County 911 Political Action Committee (PAC), said Tuesday. “Failing to plan like we’ve done before has led to some failures.”
If Proposition 1 is passed, Lewis County will collect an additional .2% sales tax to fund its 911 call center, a rate of two cents for every $10. The tax is estimated to raise approximately $4 million in yearly revenue. Groceries, gas and medicine would be exempt from the tax.
On Tuesday, supporters of the proposal gathered in Mossyrock for the second of five planned town halls to discuss the measure as they hope to pass it the second time around.
“This is one of those rare bipartisan, nonpartisan issues that we have to get together, and we are together, supporting the benefit of everybody,” Corbin said. “This affects all of us. That’s why I’m doing this.”
According to Corbin, the proposal would provide adequate funding for the 911 center and move the county from a property tax-based funding model to a sales tax-based model.
The model, organizers say, would expand the tax base, and visitors who live outside of the county would begin to pay for the services they utilize.
“This is tax equity. This is good for everybody and allows everybody to share in the responsibility,” Corbin said. “We in Lewis County pride ourselves on being strong on public safety, and this is one way we can show our support for public safety beyond just words but also with our vote come November.”
According to Corbin, the proposal would also fund additional staffing, maintenance and improvements and capital improvements. The funds are expressly earmarked for the 911 center, meaning they could not be transferred to another county fund.
The model is common throughout the state, Corbin said, with most counties throughout the state utilizing similar taxes to fund 911 operations.
If the tax were to fail again, organizers said the county would end up “in the same position” as when the county first conducted a study to see what improvements were needed.
At the time, Gregg Peterson, interim chief of Lewis County Fire District 5, said the county determined the plan was too costly.
“So we let it sit for six or eight years, and said, ‘well, we better do another study,’” Peterson said. “So we did. The county paid for another study.”
According to Peterson, the county again determined that the improvements were too pricey, and opted to conduct another study, which was completed last year.
“Fortunately, there was grant money now, federal money that was given to the county to make a lot of the improvements that they said,” Peterson said. “So basically, we’ve been operating for the past 20 years on stuff that others would not be using.”
As previously reported in The Chronicle, federal grants totaling $7 million will fund improvements to the 911 system’s infrastructure. The project is on track to be completed by August.
When completed, the project will improve first responder communication throughout the county and replace aging equipment that is about a half-decade beyond its typical lifespan.
“This grant is supposed to upgrade our 911 system county-wide, but it does not cover the ongoing operation and maintenance moving forward,” Corbin said. “These are one-time funds used to upgrade the system that’s long overdue.”
But the proposal is not without its detractors.
One attendee, who declined to provide his name, said that an appeal of living in Lewis County is a 7.8% sales tax rate in unincorporated Lewis County. If the initiative were to pass, the rate would increase to 8%, a number the attendee said the county would never dip below again.
“Being in the seven percents for sales tax is a very unique thing,” the attendee said. “And so, it attracts business, it attracts consumer spending.”
During the discussion, Corbin noted that if the tax increase were to pass, Lewis County’s sales tax would remain “significantly less than most other counties.”
“We’re not talking about entering the top 10 in the state by passing this,” Corbin said.
At more than 2,400 square miles and with 80,000 residents, Peterson said that Lewis County is a “super inefficient” and “expensive” county to provide emergency services to.
“We’ve got a fire station for roughly every 2,000 people,” Peterson said. “Where I spent my career, I protected 80,000 people with four fire stations.”
The proposal could potentially fund a new 911 call center, which is currently located on the third floor of the Lewis County Courthouse, and improve the backup center, which is housed in a Lewis County maintenance yard about eight miles down the road.
“This funding mechanism would provide the means for them to start planning in earnest for something like that,” Corbin said.
The Citizens for Lewis County 911 political action committee (PAC) will host three additional town hall-style events ahead of the general election. Each town hall will run from 6 to 9 p.m., and the events include:
• Sept. 23 at the Pe Ell School, located at 519 N. Second St. in Pe Ell.
• Sept. 30 at the Toledo Senior Center, located at 150 Coal St. in Toledo.
• Oct. 7 at the Twin Cities Senior Center, located at 2545 N. National Ave. in Chehalis.
