Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce recommends a yes vote on a Sept. 17 primary election ballot issue to increase the local sales tax by a tenth-of-a-penny, from 8.2 percent to 8.3 percent.
The chamber’s recommendation was approved unanimously Wednesday in a meeting of the chamber’s board of directors.
If approved by county voters, the sales tax hike would add a nickel to the price of $50 pair of shoes, and a dollar to a $1,000 refrigerator.
The new tax money can only be used to help pay operating costs of the Clallam County jail, juvenile detention center and Forks City Jail. It would replace state funds eliminated by 1999’s Initiative 695.
