Raise Pierce County sales tax to help people like Lily
Imagine you are Lily, a married 49-year-old who works full time. Now imagine you’ve experienced a brain aneurysm and stroke that puts you in a wheelchair permanently, ends your marriage and limits your ability to work.
Even with a part-time caregiver, Lily depends on the emergency medical system for support. She experiences severe anxiety and fearfulness at night.
In a 12-month period, Lily has called emergency services 26 times and has been transported to the hospital five times. Emergency responders help her feel comfortable and safe.
We see situations like Lily’s often – people who have experienced trauma and need behavioral health support. They strain our emergency response systems through no fault of their own.
On March 10, the Pierce County Council has the opportunity to change the circumstances for Lily and many others.
The Council will vote on an ordinance that would create a planning framework for better coordination of behavioral health services, set county-wide behavioral health goals and implement a one-tenth of 1 percent sales-tax increase.
Council members should approve this ordinance.
No one likes to pay taxes, yet they create an opportunity to purchase things we couldn’t afford as individuals – including parks, roads, and social services.
A bipartisan bill passed by the Washington Legislature in 2005 gave counties authority to implement a sales-tax increase to improve access to behavioral health services. And most have.
King County recently extended its tax through 2025. It will have been in place for nearly two decades and raised approximately $1 billion by the time the extension expires.
Does King County still face challenges related to behavioral health? Yes, the small tax increase can’t fix the entire system. But more people have access to services because of this tax.
Pierce County remains the only county in Western Washington without this tax. The County Council has the opportunity to fix that. If approved, one penny of every $10 we spend would generate about $13 million annually for behavioral health services.
A 2016 Human Services Research Institute evaluation of the behavioral health system in Pierce County makes it abundantly clear that an investment is needed from local governments.
The sales tax-based funding can be blended with other sources, including commercial and public insurance and federal and state grants, to fill the most crucial gaps in our behavioral health system of care.
We can invest in evidence-based prevention and early-intervention programs for youth, which, over time will decrease the number of adults in our community with untreated mental health conditions.
If kids could access a support network at an earlier age, evidence shows they would depend less on the behavioral health and criminal justice systems as adults.
We know the investment pays off. A 2017 King County report said participants in the tax-funded mental illness and drug dependency programs reduced their use of psychiatric hospitals by 29 percent, jail bookings by 35 percent and emergency-room admissions by 53 percent after the third year of services.
By approving this ordinance, county leaders would send a strong message that we are serious about reducing stigma and caring for those who are suffering. We help avoid burdening future generations with a mounting bill for people getting sicker and sicker because they’re not getting the support they need.
We are behind on this crisis. The time for the Pierce County Council to act is now.
Kim Zacher is the CEO of Comprehensive Life Resources, a nonprofit organization serving Pierce County with counseling, residential treatment, homelessness and foster care services. Joe Le Roy is the CEO of HopeSparks Family Services, a Tacoma-based nonprofit offering children’s mental health, early intervention and integrated pediatric healthcare services.