PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles City Council has taken a position in support of Clallam County’s proposed sales tax increase for juvenile and family services.
Council members voted 5-0 Tuesday to approve a resolution of support for the one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax that will appear on the Nov. 7 general election ballot.
The tax would raise an estimated $1 million annually for the Clallam County Juvenile and Family Services facility in west Port Angeles.
It would cost the average county citizen between $10 and $12 per year, Sheriff Bill Benedict has said.
“This facility provides many counseling, therapeutic, food and housing services for our youth,” Deputy Mayor Cherie Kidd said in Tuesday’s council meeting.
“It provides a lot of services for children in need.”
Clallam County officials pitched the sales and use tax at the City Council’s Sept. 19 meeting.
The council received public comment for and against the measure at that meeting.
In addition to a 32-bed detention center, the county facility at 1912 W. 18th St. offers programs such as teen court, Court Appointed Special Advocates, Child in Need of Services, probation and caseload supervision, True Star Behavioral Health chemical dependency treatment, mental health treatment, co-occurring treatment and family and individual treatment.
It is one of two county juvenile centers in the state to offer a secure crisis residential center for runaways.
Clallam County funds the Juvenile and Family Services facility with no direct payments from the cities of Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks.
Most of the juveniles who are booked into the detention center reside in the cities, Benedict has said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.
