Election was a win one, lose one for Cowlitz County law and justice agencies

Opposition to taxes, misinformation defeat tax for drug court, but support for police carries the day for Longview plan to hire three additional patrol officers

It was a good day and a bad day for law and justice in Cowlitz County.

Almost inexplicably to its supporters, voters on Tuesday decisively said “no” to an advisory ballot to restore the county’s 0.1% mental health sales tax, which pays for drug court and other substance abuse programs.

This outcome does not bar the Cowlitz County commissioners from re-instating the tax, but the chances they will are zero. However, Republican commissioner-elect Steve Rader said Wednesday he supports the programs and will look for alternative sources to finance them.

While the mental health tax tanked, Longview voters approved a 0.1% sales tax to hire three additional swing shift patrolman.

Wednesday’s updated election returns had the mental health tax failing with a 58% “no” vote. Longview’s police levy had a 56.1% yes vote.

The mental health tax raised about $2.8 million annually for Cowlitz Drug Court, state-mandated mental health and substance abuse treatment for county mail inmates, other “therapeutic” courts and staff and the sheriff’s behavioral health unit. (The tax added a penny to a $10 purchase.) It had bipartisan support and backing from former judges, counselors, police officials and former addicts.

Retired Cowlitz Superior Court Judge Stephen Warning, who founded drug court 25 years ago, said that the mental health tax failed simply because it is a tax.

“I don’t think a lot of people were aware of what (the advisory vote) was — beyond that it was about a tax,” Warning said Wednesday.

The measure was on the ballot because the county commissioners declined to renew the tax, which expired in the spring. Instead, they put it up to the advisory vote, to Warning’s chagrin.

“The disappointing part is that the county commissioners’ job is to get information together to make a decision on behalf of the community. But they just put it out to the community, and a lot of the vote was uninformed,” Warning said.

“Outside a couple of county commissioners, I don’t think I have heard anyone have a problem with drug court. … I can’t think that (the vote) was in any way a referendum” on the program itself, Warning said.

Cowlitz County is among 27 of Washington’s 39 counties to operate an adult drug court. More than 4,000 drug courts operate nationwide, according to state and U.S. Department of Justice statistics.

Criminal defendants who enroll in drug court must undergo drug treatment and testing, plead guilty, perform community service work and pay court costs. If they graduate, the charges are expunged from their records.

Drug courts have a proven track record of saving money by reducing social and law and justice costs by keeping offenders out of jail, reducing recidivism and rebuilding wrecked lives and families.

Studies show that drug courts save $16 to $27 for every $1 spent on them, Warning said. About 80 percent to 86 percent of Cowlitz Drug Court graduates do not reoffend within three years of graduating, officials say.

There are enough reserves to continue the mental-health-tax-suppoted programs for another year. Afterward, the county will have to end the programs or find another way to finance them.

Cowlitz County Sheriff Brad Thurman is an avid supporter of the tax and the programs it supports and was surprised the advisory vote failed.

He believes several factors combined against the mental health tax: Anti-tax sentiment; the lack of a solid public information campaign on its behalf; skepticism about government programs: and, perhaps, a confused linking of the drug problem with the homeless problem, which already is costing the community a lot of money.

He’s pleased especially with the behavioral health unit, which sends out specialists to crisis calls, freeing up deputies’ time for other calls. The agencies two crisis intervention employees had responded to about 230 calls through October this year, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Thurman, a GOP precinct committee officer, said the new Cowlitz County commissioners face hard choices about continuing the programs next year. The state mandates substance abuse and mental health treatment for jail inmates, so at least that program must continue, he said.

Judge Warning was pointed:

“The most fiscally responsible thing (the commissioners) can do is reimpose the mental health tax. It will be interesting to see what they choose to cut” if they don’t, Warning said.

There is zero chance of that happening.

Commissioner-elect Steve Rader, a Kalama Republican who will replace Arne Mortensen on the three-member board, said he supports drug court and the other programs paid for with mental health tax revenues. But the voters have spoken and he won’t reimpose the tax.

However, he said Wednesday that has already has begun discussions with officials about how to find other sources of money to sustain the programs when reserves run dry.

Rader will have to get the support of incumbent commissioner Rick Dahl and from commissioner-elect Steve Ferrell, who has voiced some skepticism about Drug Court. However, Rader’s support already distinguises him from Arne Mortensen, the commissioner whom he is replacjng and who was a drug court skeptic. (Mortensen, a libertarian Republican who is stepping down, endorsed Rader as his replacement, without Rader seeking the blessing.)

“We have a little over a year to come up with alternative sources of funding,” Rader said. “ I am going to advocate for coming up with funding to continue the programs.”

Rader said the advisory vote failed because of misunderstanding about the programs and opposition to any tax.

”People are having a hard time filling their gas tanks and they don’t want to have another tax imposed on them, Rader said.

“I don’t know that people disagree with the programs, but they are not educated about what the programs are. So misinformation took over and it was just another tax.”

Longview voters agreed to a 0.1% tax to hire three additional swing shift patrol officers. Swing shift is the busiest time for police calls.

The street patrol unit — consisting of 36 officers — has not been expanded since 1980. The city’s population has increased 23 percent and its boundaries have expanded since then, particularly on the west end.

Convincing passage of the tax was a surprise, at least at first blush. A year ago, Longview voters crushed a similar tax proposal to deal with a $16 million backlog in city parks maintenance.

But "the community has alwahys been supportive of th elaw enforcement community,” Longview Polce Chief Robert Huhta said Wednesday evening.

He noted previous voter support for the county’s 911 emergency dispatch system.

The entire City Council supported the police measure, and it had support from several different media sources, including this newsletter and the conservative Cowlitz County Watchdog publication.

The police tax will raise $500,000 a year. Car ] and most food sales are exempt.

Citizen surveys show strong public support for police, fire and library services, and a strong majority of those surveyed said they would support tax increases to pay for essential city services, said city spokeswoman Angela Abel.

The police and fire departments account for about 60% of the city ‘s operating expenses. And with the city facing budget challenges for the rest of this decade, expanding the police force without new revenue would have been unlikely, said City Councilwoman Ruth Kendall.

In addition, she said, there is a perception that the city needs more police.

Huhta said it could take a year or so to hire and train the new patrol officers to be able to patrol on their own — if they are rookie hires. However, occasionally LPD lands a veteran officer, as it did recently by hiring a five- year officer from the Portland Police Bureau who was living in Longview, Huhta said.

If it takes a year, let’s hope that by then the county commissioners find a way to keep drug court and these other treatment programs going — or the new police officers will get swamped with calls right out of the gate.