Looks like there won’t be a new behavioral health tax in Pierce County any time soon
The Pierce County Council member likely to cast the deciding vote Tuesday on a new behavioral health tax wants to study the proposal more before he’ll consider supporting it.
Council member Dave Morell said he wants to see a more robust plan for how money raised from the tax would be spent.
“My concern is we have a strategic plan in place,” the District 1 council member said. “It’s the only logical way I can talk to my constituents and say it’s transparent and it’s well thought through.”
Morell has drafted a resolution that would postpone the vote until at least October.
The bill’s sponsors are not pleased.
One of them, Council member Derek Young, said there already is a general idea of how the money would be spent. Anything too specific would tie the hands of a future council, Young said.
Asking for a detailed funding plan is “an enormous waste of time” for behavioral health care providers who are already understaffed, added Young, who represents the Gig Harbor and Key peninsulas.
“The peninsulas would be better off if they were in Kitsap County,” Young said, referring to the fact Kitsap passed a similar tax in 2013. “This is absurd.”
The proposed behavioral health tax would increase the sales tax by one-tenth of 1 percent across the county, or a penny on every $10 spent. Money raised would fund behavioral health education, early intervention and prevention. Twenty-four of Washington’s 39 counties and Tacoma have passed the tax.
Morell said he wants Pierce County’s Regional System of Care Committee to present a strategic plan on spending the money by Oct. 1. He has asked that the plan include short, medium and long-term changes, measure specific expenditures and find benchmarks to hold partners accountable for the funding received.
None of the jurisdictions that have implement the tax have required such a plan beforehand. Morell said he reached out to several counties and found continued gaps in the continuum of care. He believes creating a framework would ensure better coverage.
“Our strategic plan will be a better plan than everybody else’s out there,” he said. “We are learning from the others who have done this, and that’s why I want this plan to cover the gaps that they have.
“I can guarantee you it will be a better vote once the strategic plan is delivered rather than push the ordinance on the books to a vote.“
This is the second time the tax has been brought before the County Council. In 2016, the tax failed by one vote. Bills for tax increases in Pierce County need a supermajority, or five out of seven votes.
The county commissioned a study in 2016 before the initial behavioral health tax vote. The study said there were resource gaps and the funding would help.
Opposition to Morell’s move
The three bill sponsors voiced frustration with a potential delay. They want to pass the tax first and then discuss exactly how the money would be spent as it starts accruing.
Council member Connie Ladenburg said Tuesday delaying the vote would cost those who need help $13.1 million, the projected amount the tax would garner in a year.
“If we don’t move now, that time is wasted,” Ladenburg said in a committee meeting. “We’re telling residents they are not worth $13.1 million.”
Council member Marty Campbell was on Tacoma’s City Council when the city did passed a behavioral health tax. He said this tax isn’t trailblazing, and the push for a more concrete plan is late.
“We’ve been talking about this for a year, but your draft to delay comes at the 11th hour,” Campbell said to Morell on the dais.
Republican council members Pam Roach and Jim McCune have said they would not vote for the tax increase. Chairman Doug Richardson voted for the tax in 2016 but has shown support for Morell’s resolution to delay until a funding plan is finalized.
Some Pierce County cities are waiting to see what the county decides. The Lakewood City Council could not muster enough support to bring a measure to pass a tax there to a vote Monday.
Lakewood City Council member John Simpson said he wants to see what Pierce County does first. He believes the tax should be implemented, but if the county does it, Lakewood would get to be a part of the bigger conversation.
The County Council is scheduled to vote on the tax next Tuesday, March 10.
