Kent Council unanimously adopts 0.1% sales tax to fund additional police and criminal‑justice positions

The Kent City Council voted 7–0 on Sept. 16 to adopt Ordinance No. 4522, imposing a one‑tenth of 1 percent sales and use tax dedicated to criminal‑justice purposes and to create and fund new positions in the local criminal‑justice system.

City leaders said the measure is meant to address what staff described as a long‑running imbalance between Kent’s public‑safety needs and the city’s share of sales tax revenue, a consequence they tied to the region’s 2008 change to destination‑based sales tax allocation and Kent’s large industrial and warehousing base.

Council members heard a series of presentations before the vote. Pat Fitzpatrick, chief administrative officer, summarized the city’s fiscal position and the origin of the proposal, saying Kent’s economy heavily depends on warehousing and industrial land and that under the state’s destination approach Kent receives less sales tax revenue than it did under the prior origin‑based system. Fitzpatrick told the council the city has sought mitigation from the Legislature in prior sessions and that mitigation will lapse next year.

City Attorney Tammy White outlined statutory steps required by House Bill 2015 and said Kent submitted documentation to the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) to demonstrate eligibility. "The CJTC has acknowledged receipt…