Proposed sales tax to help Vancouver Police Department hire more officers

VANCOUVER, Wash. (KPTV) - The City of Vancouver is considering a 0.1% sales tax that would help the police department hire 16 additional officers.

“It’s one penny on a $10 purchase,” said Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle.

For years, the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) has been understaffed. Chief Troy Price said an understaffed police department means having to make compromises when it comes to public safety.

“We understand that the community has needs and they have desires from their police department to provide levels of service that are above what we are able to provide right now,” Price said.

The proposed sales tax is the third of a three-part funding plan to hire more officers. Part one was Proposition 5, a property tax measure that was passed last November. Part two is funding from the state, designed to help VPD hire new officers. The new sales tax is part three and according to Price, it would help VPD fund its new officers over time.

“Public safety has always been the number one priority,” McEnerny-Ogle said. “They want traffic to slow down, they want better response times, and this will help all of that.”

Price told FOX 12 that the addition of 16 officers would make a significant difference at VPD.

“We would be able to put more people into our patrol but also into our specialty units,” he said. “When I first came here, I think our traffic unit had somewhere between 10 or 12 officers. And that was for our city 28, almost 29 years ago. Right now, there are about six people who work back there. So, our population has gone up and our ability to staff special units like that has gone down.”

The proposed sales tax also comes after Proposition 4, a property tax measure that would have funded 80 officers, failed back in November 2024. Now, as City Council prepares to vote on the proposed tax, Price said he hopes the community is receptive.

“They decided that a smaller version of what was Prop 4 would be more acceptable to our community and more affordable,” Price said.

According to McEnerny-Ogle, City Council is expected to vote on the proposed tax by September.