Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Des Moines enacts 0.1% public-safety sales tax, estimated to raise about $450,000 a year
Summary
Council unanimously adopted an ordinance to add a 0.1 percentage-point sales and use tax for criminal justice purposes under state ESHB 2015; staff estimates about $450,000 annually and flagged a potential grant that could fund new officer positions for three years.
The Des Moines City Council on Oct. 9 voted unanimously to enact a 0.1 percentage-point public-safety sales and use tax authorized by the Washington Legislature in ESHB 2015. The tax raises the city's sales-tax rate from 10.2% to 10.3% and would fund criminal-justice-related activities the state statute allows.
Jeff Friend, the city's finance director, briefed council members on the statutory requirements and how the city would comply. He said the Des Moines Police Department has submitted the required policy and practice documents to the Criminal Justice Training Commission, a condition of eligibility under ESHB 2015. Friend said the tax's annual proceeds are estimated at about $450,000 for Des Moines and that the city could use the revenue to fund an officer, animal control and increased public defender costs among other criminal-justice purposes. "If someone were to purchase a pair of shoes for $100 in the city of Des Moines, currently the tax on that would be $10.20. With this tax rate increase, the tax on a $100 pair of shoes would be $10.30," Friend said as an example.
The statute defines permissible uses broadly for activities that "substantially assist the criminal justice system," and Friend listed several allowable examples: officer hiring and training, public defender staffing, diversion programs, alternative response and mental-health crisis response, domestic violence programs, and programs that address intersections with homelessness and behavioral health.
District-level grants created by the same state legislation are also part of the program. Friend and other speakers explained that the new state grants prioritize jurisdictions that implement the sales-tax increase, and the Des Moines Police Department could be eligible for grant funding to hire and retain new officers. Council was told the grant formula available through the state program would provide approximately $125,000 per new officer per year for up to three years; the grant is intended to fund new positions rather than supplant existing staff.
Timing requirements from the Department of Revenue dictate when the city must notify the state to implement the tax: to take effect Jan. 1, notice is required by Oct. 18; for an April 1 effective date, notice would be required by Jan. 16, 2026. The council approved draft ordinance 25-053 and asked staff to return with a proposed special revenue fund to track the receipts and expenditures should the ordinance be finalized.
Council members debated reliance on a one-time state grant to staff sworn positions but a majority favored enacting the tax now to provide an immediate revenue stream. Deputy Mayor Steinmetz said the council should be cautious about relying on grants for long-term staffing, while others said the city could use the sales-tax revenue to ensure any officer funded with the local revenue would remain on payroll should state grant funding end.
The ordinance passed 7–0.
