TACOMA, Wash. — In a 5-2 vote, the Pierce County Council approved a new 0.1% public safety sales tax at its meeting Tuesday evening.
The proposal will add around $27 million to the county’s annual budget, which supporters said is needed to fill a funding cap for critical public safety services.
“To balance the budget we are in right now, I had to use $34 million from our rainy day piggy bank, in order to just balance our budget to keep the status quo of our services,” said Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello…