Advisory boards to guide Tumwater in usage of sales tax for housing services

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Tumwater’s General Government Committee recommended to the city council an amendment creating two boards to advise the Regional Housing Council (RHC) on the usage of sales and use tax for housing-related services during a meeting on Wednesday, February 8.

The RHC seeks to leverage resources and partnerships for housing-related services. The amendment, which amends a 2021 interlocal agreement that established the RHC, creates an advisory board for affordable housing matters and another for homeless services. The two boards would recommend funding priorities, funding awards, and policies to the RHC.

The advisory boards would comprise community members from the private sector representing the parties involved in the interlocal agreement: Thurston County, Olympia, Tumwater, Lacey, and Yelm. At least a third of the members should be residents of Olympia or members of an organization based in the city.

Tumwater Planning Manager Brad Medrud said that city staff has already reviewed the applications of those wanting to join the board and is currently conducting interviews with 35 applicants.

The amendment is in line with HB 1070, which allowed the use of local tax revenue for housing-related services.

Councilmember Michael Althauser explained that the bill allows parties of the interlocal agreement, such as Tumwater to use around $30,000 of its tax revenue and contribute it to a regionally-pooled housing fund.

If the fund was not used, local jurisdictions would have the discretion to use their portion of the fund.

Althauser explained that the amendment changes how tax revenues collected by the RHC are going to be reverted to local jurisdictions. Previously, the funds could be returned to the local jurisdictions if the funds were not being used for at least a year.

With the amendment, tax revenue may be returned to local jurisdictions if they want to use it for projects that align with their adopted funding priorities.

The amendment would now be transmitted to the city council for its February 21 meeting.

Editors' Note: A previous iteration of this story referred to the changes being made as an "ordinance," instead of the correct term, "amendment." We apologize for the confusion.

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