A friendly argument over numbers between Jefferson County Administrator John Fischbach and Commissioner David Sullivan has added up to an $800,000 to $1 million windfall for Jefferson County.
Jefferson County Treasurer Judi Morris told Fischbach on Monday that the state Department of Revenue will send a check this summer for state sales taxes that the county had asked the state to collect starting in 1999, when the tax increased from .04 percent to .08 percent.
Although the county sent the state letters asking the state to collect the extra percentage, the state never passed the money along to the county.
Sullivan and Fischbach were recently discussing the budget for the Public Infrastructure Fund Board and realized the budget said the county was collecting .04 percent while county officials thought it was .08 percent.
"It's a lot of money, and it's good news for sure," Fischbach said.
The money is used for infrastructure projects such as the proposed Tri-Area sewer project and the Public Utility District's Quilcene water system. The Port of Port Townsend also has projects that could benefit from the windfall, Sullivan said.
The City of Port Townsend's upper Sims Way project also could benefit, as could projects under way with the PUD.
Morris said the state is still assessing how much money to give the county, but she said officials have advised her it's between $800,000 and $1 million.
"It's unfortunate it wasn't caught before this," Morris said of the eight-year error. "We went back and looked at reports and there was an increase in the tax. We saw an increase and made the poor assumption the Department of Revenue had acted on the increase. However, now we know it was an increase in the tax base itself," she said yesterday.
Morris said she takes responsibility for collecting the tax and is glad the mistake was caught and is being rectified. She said she also appreciates that the state was willing to work with the county on the issue after Sullivan and Fischbach asked her to look into the matter.
Mike Gowrylow, a spokesman for the Department of Revenue, said Tuesday the state is reviewing its records to see if any other counties asked for but did not receive revenue.
"Something dropped through the cracks over here," he said of the state also failing to notice the letters from the county.
Sullivan said that he would hope to dedicate half of the money to building a sewer project for the Tri-Area.
"It may allow us to be more generous with other projects," Sullivan said.
In 2005, the Public Infrastructure Fund Board received $183,000 from that tax; in 2006 it received $211,000. The tax was expected to generate $173,000 or more this year.
For "the rest of the story" and full coverage of all Port Townsend and Jefferson County news, events and people, subscribe to our award-winning weekly newspaper.
