Council Proposes to Endorse Its Own Unanimously Adopted Ballot Proposition

This morning, Tom Pierson, President & CEO of the Chamber, emailed members of the Tacoma City Council about their proposed endorsement of Tacoma Prop. 1, the Utility Tax Increase.

His email:

Mayor Strickland and members of the Council,

Just this morning the City Council’s agenda for this evening’s meeting was posted online.  Buried in this agenda is a new Resolution, No. 38748, expressing support for the Council’s Proposition 1 to raise an additional $10M in tax revenues.

As you are aware, the Chamber's Board of Directors voted to oppose this proposition.  This means we are also in opposition to Resolution No. 38748.

If passed, these taxes will be passed on to the end users resulting in higher consumer costs across the board.  While maintaining streets are important to the City, Tacoma currently spends a far smaller portion of its budget maintaining roads than similar jurisdictions.  Allocation of resources should be addressed before simply asking the public for more money.

If you have any questions on this issue, please don’t hesitate to contact me.