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Lake Stevens considers public-safety sales tax to offset rising prosecution and public-defender costs
Summary
Deputy Chief Dean Thomas told council that a proposed public-safety sales tax would first cover mandated prosecution and defense costs and that staff's preliminary estimates put combined annual costs near $600,000.
Deputy Chief Dean Thomas presented the city's draft public-safety sales-tax ordinance and summarized early cost estimates and program uses during a Lake Stevens City Council workshop.
What staff presented: Dean Thomas said the sales-tax revenue would first cover mandated costs for prosecution and defense counsel, and that any funds remaining would be available for hiring or for program support such as a domestic-violence coordinator. “It was originally put out at about 800,000. The Barb changed our numbers to about 750, 700,000,” Thomas said. He gave itemized estimates: the prosecutor's cost was reported at about $206,000 and defense-attorney costs had risen toward $300,000; staff summarized those two categories together as roughly $606,000 annually.
Why the tax is proposed: Thomas and other staff said the increases in public-defense and…
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