PORT ANGELES — State Sen. Jim Hargrove said he would rather cut crime than build prisons to hold more criminals.
It sounds simple, says the Democrat from Hoquiam whose 24th District includes the North Olympic Peninsula. But between cops and the courts, he said, “we continue to recycle people through our system over and over and over.”
Ending the cycle is the aim of his mental health and drug dependency legislation, Hargrove told the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
In 12 days, his efforts will hit home in Clallam County.
July 1 is when merchants will start collecting a one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax to fund programs to help brain-disordered and drug-dependent people. It will raise the sales tax rate from 8.3 to 8.4 percent, the same as Jefferson County, which also adopted the tax.
The measure will add $1 to the cost of each $1,000 of taxable goods and services, about $20 a year for an average family.
Clallam County commissioners adopted the tax in an emotional meeting March 28. A move by anti-tax activist Dave Cummins of Sequim failed to repeal it.
Hargrove called the tax an example of “spending money on things that are making a difference.” In this case, it would provide treatment to people who otherwise might commit crimes, go to jail and, after their release, have few chances but to commit more crimes.
While the money will benefit people who have broken the law, “we’re not spending it for them,” the senator said. “It’s a taxpayer saving.”
