For the second time in a year, Clark County residents will be asked whether to pay a tad more in sales taxes in order to fund body cameras at their sheriff’s office.
On Wednesday, the Clark County Council voted unanimously to ask voters for a fractional increase in the sales tax that would raise about $7.2 million annually for the county. The increment would also raise $4.8 million for local cities.
The county intends to use its portion to pay for body-worn cameras and dashboard cameras at the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. The devices, according to county officials, are long overdue.
FILE: Protesters stand behind a police line in Hazel Dell, Washington, in 2020 after a fatal shooting by the Clark County Sheriff's Office.
Troy Brynelson / OPB
“I think it’s been universally supported throughout the county by law enforcement,” Councilor Gary Medvigy said. “It provides more transparency. It provides for better policing. It provides more evidence of what happened to get to the heart of charging decisions or settlement decisions.”
The ask would raise sales taxes 0.1%, or 1 penny for every $10 spent. Clark County attempted a similar sales tax bump for body-worn cameras last fall, but voters turned that measure down.
Detractors contended the previous measure was poorly framed. It asked voters to raise taxes for juvenile detention facilities as a way to free up existing funds that could then be reallocated for body-worn cameras.
Medvigy said a more direct ask may help this time. But the former judge-turned-politician said any request for new taxes faces an uphill battle.
“People don’t increase taxes. I think that’s why the last one failed. Some people said it was too confusing, no one understood it — that might be a portion of it,” Medvigy said.
Because cities stand to reap extra funds if passed, he said he hoped to see cities drum up support for the measure. Medvigy said county administrators have been in talks with some cities, such as Vancouver.
Though its marquee expenditure is cameras, the public safety funds are also free to be spent on other items. The tax revenue could be directed toward law enforcement salaries, officials said, or be spent on capital projects like fixing up the Clark County Jail.
Calls for body-worn cameras have risen in the wake of recent local shootings. Since 2019, the sheriff’s office and the Vancouver Police Department — the two biggest agencies in the county — have shot and killed nine people.
Jasmine Tolbert, president of Vancouver’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said she was nonplussed. She viewed the proposal as the county council abdicating its responsibility to mange budgets.
“I don’t like them trying to fund it through the ballot,” Tolbert said. “If they wanted to show their true dedication to the safety of the county, their community members, and their true support of law enforcement officers asking for this, then they should figure out a way to fund it.”
A representative from the sheriff’s office could not be reached by press time.