City reviews options to use 14‑06 sales tax and county filing‑fee funds for housing

Yakima City staff on Jan. 14 briefed council on two funding options for affordable and supportive housing: (1) using the city’s retained portion of the “14‑06” sales tax already authorized by state law for affordable housing and (2) how the city could retain and administer a portion of the county real‑estate filing fee commonly discussed in Yakima as the “$21.63” filing fee.

City Attorney Sarah Watkins summarized the 14‑06 program and the city’s existing municipal ordinance (YMC 7.92) that currently allows the city to use retained sales tax proceeds to connect multifamily affordable housing projects (10 units or more) to city utilities. Watkins said the state permits retained 14‑06 funds only for three broad categories: construction of housing, supportive housing, or rental assistance. She also noted the city’s 14‑06 proceeds are limited in scale — the city’s total revenue from the program since 2020 is about $806,000 and the typical annual intake is roughly $160,000.

“The $14.00 6…