YMCA Building and Conservation Futures Taxes
The Spokane City Council has finally decided to try to use Spokane County Conservation Futures Taxes for the payment of the loan it took out to buy the YMCA building on the Spokane River. Council members and two Spokane County Commissioners say the money is being used to create open space on the river. That is an excuse. The money is to be used to pay a loan the city made to itself from funds it held in an account which has nothing to do with parks and recreation funding.
What we witness here is the misuse, the illegal use, of tax revenues for an impermissible purpose. The city and the county are merely raiding the Conservation Futures Tax account to pay off a loan the city of Spokane has incurred and which it does not want to pay.