(The Center Square) – Facing a multi-million-dollar deficit, Yakima County might ask voters to increase taxes next year to keep a debilitated jail afloat after finding out a replacement could cost $400 million.
Financial Services Director Brian Carlson forecast a potential $13 million to $15 million general fund shortfall a few months ago, driven in part by rising jail costs. The Board of County Commissioners has considered rebuilding the facility for several years, but the officials said Monday that it will have to wait.
The board hired an architecture firm earlier this year to develop a conceptual design for a jail capable of housing around 700 inmates. Commissioner LaDon Linde said Monday that the roughly $400 million price tag isn’t feasible in the near future, so the board is looking at options to keep the current jail running.
“I don’t see another way forward for the deferred maintenance suitcase nuke that is our jail,” Carlson told the board on Monday. “That’s the cleanest way I can characterize that. I don’t see another way.”
The deficit ahead of next year is the result of a $3 million structural gap driven by inflation, plateauing sales tax growth, rising personnel costs, public defender caseloads and jail costs increasing $5 million.
Carlson presented projections on Monday that show the general fund generating $79 million next year, which is 3% less than what the board budgeted for 2025. Federal pandemic relief fueled an increase in spending in recent years, but that funding is running dry as the budget has ballooned by $10 million.
The pandemic relief money covered much of the deferred maintenance at the jail for the past couple of years. The facility is no longer financially self-sufficient, so Carlson and the commissioners said it will require substantial transfers from the general fund to keep it open until they find additional funding.
It’s too late to put a tax proposal on the ballot ahead of next year, so Carlson suggested passing a new councilmanic real estate excise tax. REET 1 already generates $1.5 million, and the board could double that by implementing REET 2, with another $1.5 million available in an existing fund balance, he said.
Carlson said asking voters to raise taxes may be the only way to keep the jail running moving forward.
“We’ve got the long game ahead,” Commissioner Kyle Curtis responded. “I think one thing that I’ve realized in our community, it could be very hard for our community to support a one-tenth sales tax.”
Some counties have a one-tenth of 1% sales tax that goes directly toward funding detention services; if Yakima voters supported that at the ballot, Carlson said it could generate about $6 million annually.
If approved on a future ballot, the tax would cost residents $1 for every $1,000 spent at the register.
Recognizing concerns about increasing taxes, the officials discussed the possibility of sunsetting the measure after approximately six years, should voters approve it on the ballot. Another option included bonding out the deferred maintenance and using that extra tax revenue to pay off the debt over time.
Curtis also suggested increasing the rate that the county charges municipalities to use the jail. He said charging an additional $10 per bed could provide some gap funding along with the REET tax revenues.
If the commissioners do put a tax hike on the ballot, it wouldn’t reach voters until sometime in 2026.
“They’re tired of taxes … we have to recognize that fact and respond accordingly,” Linde said. “On the other hand we got the issue that public safety is really our biggest expense and highest priority.”
Carlson will continue to meet with the board on a weekly basis as it develops the 2026 budget.
