SEQUIM — A measure to raise the sales tax inside the city of Sequim is too close to call.
The proposal to hike the sales tax two-tenths of 1 cent inside the Sequim city limit was favored by 1,133 voters, or 50.27 percent of those who voted in Tuesday’s election.
It was opposed by 1,121 voters, or 49.73 percent of the votes counted by Tuesday night.
That makes the margin of separation just 12 votes.
With 3,938 eligible voters in Sequim, the ballots left to be counted could reverse the measure’s lead.
The next ballot count is set for 4:30 p.m. Friday.
The Sequim City Council put the tax hike on the ballot last summer, in hopes of generating revenue for sidewalks and road repairs.
This town is seeing more traffic than ever, while many of its older roads are cracked and potholed, Mayor Laura Dubois has said.
The added sales-tax revenue could also help the city pay for new and improved sidewalks to make Sequim more pedestrian-friendly.
“I can only hope we squeak it through, because it would really be good for the city,” Dubois said Tuesday night.
If it does pass, the measure would hike the sales tax inside the Sequim city limit to 8.6 percent instead of the 8.4 percent in the rest of Clallam County.
The increase would pour a projected $600,000 in annual revenue into Sequim’s transportation-improvement fund.
Business leaders here have spoken against a tax hike during the current economic downturn.
Bill Littlejohn, president of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce, polled about 40 chamber members last summer and said most wanted to put off the increase.
“The majority thought the timing was poor,” Littlejohn said Tuesday night. “Most would prefer we wait for better times.”
Littlejohn added that he’s frustrated by the city’s latest method of fundraising for street maintenance.
He grew up in Sequim, and remembers when such work didn’t require tax increases.
Dubois has said the sales-tax hike is simply a way to have people from outside town help pay for the streets they use when they come in to shop and run errands.
Two-tenths of a cent is a small enough increase to not be burdensome, she said, emphasizing that it won’t apply to food (except at delis and restaurants), gasoline, prescriptions, utility rates, insurance, rent or mortgages.
But when dining out or buying clothes, office supplies, home appliances or tires, taxpayers will see a little extra on their bills: 4 cents added to a $20 restaurant check, or $1 tacked on to a $500 refrigerator.
If the measure does pass, it will take effect April 1, 2009.
The revenue it generates could make a dent in Sequim’s six-year Transportation Improvement Plan, which includes $24 million in projects. Among them: sidewalk improvements on Third Avenue, a traffic light at Sequim Avenue and Fir Street, extensions of Ninth and Seventh avenues, widening of Prairie Street and Port Williams Road, rehabilitating Hendrickson Road and 30 other items.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailyews.com.
