Commissioners Approve Sales Tax to Fund Community Campus
The Yakima County Commissioners, in a 2-0 vote Tuesday approved a .01 percent sales tax that becomes effective in April of 2020 to pay for what they're calling the Yakima County Community Care Campus at the Pacific Avenue Jail. The tax is expected to raise about $3.5 million every year. The tax, under state law didn't have to be approved by the public.
The money will be used to create and operate the facility which is now a 288-bed jail on Pacific Avenue. The commissioners say the center will offer mental health and substance abuse services and transitional or permanent housing for homeless. The commissioners already have $300,000 to start the project funds that were saved last year.
The first work will convert a storage facility next to the jail into a permanent homeless shelter to replace Camp Hope now located behind the former K-Mart on East Nob Hill Blvd. That facility is expected to be ready in June of next year.
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