LONGVIEW — Longview voters will decide in November whether to approve a sales tax to hire additional patrol officers for the Longview Police Department.
The council has unanimously voted at recent council meetings to place the proposal on the Nov. 5 ballot, and at Tuesday’s meeting approved a committee to write the “for” statement in the Cowlitz County Voters’ Guide that will mailed in the fall.
The city is proposing a 0.1 percent increase in sales tax to specifically hire patrol officers, meaning a penny would be added to every $10 purchase in Longview.
The resolution states the measure would provide the city with roughly $500,000, which is half the cost needed to hire and equip six new patrol officers.
Longview Police Chief Robert Huhta said the hires would allow the department to increase the minimum patrol staffing for each shift by two officers.
The City Council established Tuesday a pro-levy committee of Mayor Spencer Boudreau, councilman Erik Halvorson and resident Connie Lantz to write the supporting statements for the county voters’ pamphlet for the General Election. The motion was approved unanimously, though Councilmembers MaryAlice Wallis and Keith Young were absent.
No one has applied yet to be on the “against” committee, so the county’s elections office will seek volunteers.
The Longview City Council first discussed the ballot measure in the summer of 2023, and ultimately decided to push the measure to this year, as a property tax for the city parks was already on last November’s ballots.
