Spokane County commissioners pause Shrek transition amid dispute over 911 apportionment, mayor sets Feb. 6 deadline

Spokane County commissioners on Jan. 27 spent the bulk of a strategic planning meeting debating how a proposed state bill and a recent letter from the City of Spokane would affect Spokane Regional Emergency Communications (Shrek) funding and governance. County staff told the commissioners the Shrek board paused transitional meetings because it viewed the city’s proposals and House Bill 12 58 as likely to reallocate regional 9‑1‑1 and sales‑tax dollars in ways that would disadvantage the county’s other member agencies.

The discussion centered on how the 9‑1‑1 excise tax and the 1/10 of 1% sales tax are currently pooled and used, and on language in House Bill 12 58 that county staff said appears to apportion revenues based on call volume rather than tax origination. “This bill is not written from that context. The bill is written from what we refer to as the status quo,” Cody, a Shrek representative, told commissioners. He described the bill as applying apportionment on top of the existing body of work performed by Shrek rather than…