(The Center Square) – Facing backlash from local businesses, the Spokane City Council deferred a vote on Monday over a 12% parking tax proposal after amending it to delay the effective date until April 2026.
The officials planned to vote on Monday, but because of the timing of the amendment, the council had to delay final consideration to next week. They considered suspending the rules to still allow a vote on Monday, but opted to take public testimony instead, allowing another week to consider that feedback.
While a few residents have publicly supported Mayor Lisa Brown’s proposal to fill a portion of the city’s $13 million deficit, the business community has not. A few business associations even sent her letters vehemently opposing the tax hike, arguing that it would only drive up downtown office vacancy rates.
“The airport is financially self-sustaining and receives no financial support whatsoever from the city,” David Haring, CEO of the Spokane International Airport, testified. “Yet the proposed parking tax seeks to divert airport funds to the city and furtherance of studies focused on housing and development.”
Haring said SIA bakes the city and state’s 9% sales tax into its overall parking rates to avoid passing those costs directly to consumers. The airport may have to reconsider that policy if the council passes the parking tax, which could lead to a 4% revenue loss in 2026, about $2.5 million, Haring estimated.
He said the tax could change how air travel looks in the region, since parking revenue finances capital projects. Without that funding, SIA can’t put as much money toward its debt service. Haring said that would equate to about $35 million annually that the airport would be unable to invest in the region.
Urbanist activist Erik Lowe said the airport generates roughly 40% of its total revenue from parking fees and claimed that losing a fraction of that wouldn’t affect SIA’s daily operations. He argued that SIA should face an even higher rate than 12%, or the 6% exemption allowed in certain situations.
Other residents also testified in support, citing the potential increase in revenue for transportation projects, uncertainty about federal funding and the fact that other cities already levy a tax like this.
“One-third of the most valuable real estate in all of Spokane is given over to parking,” Holden Ringer, advocacy manager for Transportation Choices Coalition, testified. “It’d be one thing if Spokane was actually using that parking, but studies have shown that about only 56% of that space is utilized.”
Clayton McFarland, legislative chair of the Spokane Building Owners and Managers Association, said the city proposed the tax without stakeholder input. Mary Miller, director of public policy with Greater Spokane Incorporated, repeated that concern and said the lack of engagement undermines residents.
“We’ve heard from our hospitals, these really critical sectors that we rely on in Spokane, they, too, are trying to balance their budget without overburdening their patrons,” she said. “This policy undermines progress for those sectors at a time when they really desperately need protections for the long term.”
Representatives from the Downtown Spokane Partnership and the Spokane Business Associations also testified in opposition, along with several business owners. SBA President Brad Barnett said with the downtown office vacancy rate already around 30%, “this is definitely not the time” for another tax.
Other business owners said the tax would disincentivize traffic downtown, and one resident noted that she already pays about $240 per month to park there four or five days a week. While someone argued that the “average parker” would just have to give up one coffee to afford the tax, others disagreed.
“Community members would come down and visit regularly, say two trips a week, coming downtown, not as an employee,” Scott Taylor, general manager of The Car Park, testified. “That would actually cost a community member an extra $219.44 just in taxes — to say that is not significant would be wrong.”
The council will vote on the parking tax on Nov. 24, along with budget adjustments to close the deficit.
