Lake Forest Park to study 0.1% public-safety sales tax and grant eligibility under HB 2015
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Sign Up Free
Summary
Councilors discussed a draft resolution authorizing a 0.1% sales and use tax under House Bill 2015 for public safety and directed staff — including the police chief — to report back on whether the city meets grant eligibility findings; Council member Liebow offered to draft a resolution instructing staff to do the legwork.
Lake Forest Park councilors on June 23 reviewed a draft proposal to authorize a 0.1% sales-and-use tax for public safety under House Bill 2015 and asked city staff to analyze grant-eligibility conditions and return with a report.
Council member Lebo summarized the law: “So in this most recent, legislative session, they did pass engrossed senate house bill number 20 15, which did authorize cities, to increase, for public safety reasons, the sales tax by 1 tenth of a percent.” City Attorney Pratt later told the council that if the council intends to adopt the sales-tax resolution it must be able to make the statutory findings that qualify the city for the related state grants.
The proposal draws interest because a 0.1% sales tax is paid in part by nonresidents who shop in the city, broadening the revenue base beyond property owners. Council members expressed both support and cautions: some said sales tax is regressive compared with property tax and warrants careful public messaging; others said the tax would be one more tool to fund public safety if the levy lid lift under consideration does not meet projections.
City staff and the police chief have already begun preliminary work. City Administrator Hill said the chief is preparing a report on what the department would need to demonstrate to qualify for the state grants and the related findings required for the revenue increase. City Attorney Pratt summarized the legal requirement: “when council passes this resolution for the sales tax, you have to be able to make a finding that you qualify for the grant. So you have to be counsel has to be able to say, we meet each of the requirements for getting 1 of the grants.”
Council members noted constraints in the legislation: the combined increment available from city and county cannot exceed 0.3% in many instances, and one councilor said the state grant program timeline extends through 2028 and does not impose an immediate deadline. Council member Liebow volunteered to draft a resolution asking staff to do the necessary legwork to document the findings for possible grant application and a future council vote.
No final resolution or vote was taken at the Committee of the Whole meeting; councilors asked staff to return a report on eligibility and legal findings before advancing any councilmanic sales-tax request to the Business & Finance committee.