A $155M Parks Tacoma bond was on the ballot Tuesday. Here are initial results
Parks Tacoma’s $155 million, six-year bond measure appeared to be getting the support it needed to pass as of election night.
The measure that the agency put forward in the April 28 special election to pay for an array of redevelopment or replacement projects in the city’s parks system got 76.14% of the vote with 20% voter turnout as of Tuesday night. It needed 60% of the vote plus one vote to pass. If the measure maintains that majority by the time Pierce County officials certify the election on May 8, it would mean a continuation of the $0.45 per $1,000 of assessed value tax rate – about $249 a year for the owner of a house with an assessed value of about $553,000 – that residents had been paying under a bond measure that voters approved for Parks Tacoma in 2014.
Parks Tacoma Board president Matt Mauer said he was grateful to the voters for their support. “That type of a turnout, especially 76% of voters saying yes on the first drop, is really a testament to what parks has continued to do for the community and deliver,” Mauer told The News Tribune on election night.
No one submitted a statement against the bond measure, according to the voters’ pamphlet.
The Yes for Tacoma Parks committee had raised $150,134.43 by April 28, $125,000 of which came from the Point Defiance Zoological Society, Tacoma Parks Foundation and the Northwest Trek Foundation – three nonprofits that support Parks Tacoma projects. As of April 28, the committee had spent $51,795.99, largely on printing and posting mailers, according to the state’s Public Disclosure Commission.
Parks Tacoma outlined a list of 42 sites that could see at least 100 different projects with support from the bond. Those range from a redevelopment of People’s Community Center in Hilltop to updates and improvements at Fort Nisqually to the acquisition of new land and property to potentially build additional parks.
The bond measure comes as Parks Tacoma contends with its second operating budget shortfall in two years, which the agency estimates to be around $3 million. Parks officials have said that since the bond measure would pay for capital projects, the funds raised from the measure could not directly address the budget deficit, which is in the agency’s general fund. They told The News Tribune that it would indirectly reduce financial pressure on Parks Tacoma to use operating dollars to fund ongoing maintenance costs.
The agency is also one of several local agencies that are facing budget deficits. Tacoma Public Schools and the city of Tacoma have both implemented mitigation measures recently to address multi-million dollar deficits.
Parks Tacoma’s bond measure comes amid the “year of the tax” as several local agencies in and around Tacoma are exploring the possibility of or have already put new tax measures to the voters. 10 of Pierce County’s 15 school districts in February put a variety of tax measures to the voters, and the city of Tacoma plans to put a new streets initiative to the voters in August.
This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 8:13 PM.
