7 Lessons from the 2019 SPET Election

Friends,

It’s inspiring to live in a place where voters are willing to invest in creating and protecting the type of community we value.

Kudos and thanks to Teton County voters for approving nine critical Specific Purpose Excise Tax (SPET) measures on November 5. Here are seven lessons I take away from the results:

1. High Turnout Helped All Measures.

Voter turnout was around 49%, a few points higher than the 2017 SPET election. That's pretty high for an off-year election (which is regrettable, but that’s a different story).

A few measures with enthusiastic constituencies drove turnout higher, notably: wildlife crossings, protecting the Café Genevieve block, and the recreation center enhancements. This turnout helped pass the less glamorous measures, such as the core vehicle maintenance facility and Gregory Lane improvements.

2. A Strong Statement for Respecting Voters’ Right to Pick & Choose.

At the risk of being called out for implicitly shouting “I told you so,” the election results endorse preserving our county’s history of presenting SPET measures à la carte.

I am pleased that a majority of our elected representatives in town and county agreed to maintain this tradition and trust the voters to study the issues. It’s not the most efficient method to fund local government, but it keeps voters involved and promotes accountability.

3. Voter Education Matters.

To my knowledge, this was the first local SPET election in which a group of local folks formed an education committee to advocate for all 10 measures. By way of disclosure, I happily supported this public education and advocacy effort.

The Town of Jackson also did an excellent job providing educational material on the measures. These ballot measures are complex; it sure helps to make information available so voters can make informed decisions.

4. The Voters Endorsed Workforce Housing.

Bravo to the voters for realizing the severity of our community’s workforce housing crisis – that mitigating the crisis costs money, and that housing is complicated work that moves slowly. Even with money, it’s a huge challenge.

I plan to promote using a significant portion of these funds to support the Housing Department and Housing Supply Board’s nascent plans to develop leveraged financial tools (e.g. down payment assistance, a loan fund for building Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), a fund to purchase deed restrictions on market housing so that houses remain dedicated to the workforce, a loan fund for making deposits on rental units, and a fund to rehabilitate housing and restrict it to the workforce).

5. Wildland Fire Engines.

Fifteen percent of voters voted against funds to acquire four new engines to fight wildland fires. This tells me that around 15% of voters simply opposed SPET as a funding mechanism, regardless of the public purpose.

6. Voters Reject Using SPET Funds for Planning & Design.

The courthouse measure lost decisively, coming up short in every precinct except one. I draw the lesson that voters prefer to use SPET funds for capital investments (which typically involve planning & design), but that planning & design alone is too much of a stretch. That’s a fair point. Message heard.

7. SPET Is Not the Only Way to Create the Community We Want.

As we move toward 2020, both elected representatives and the general public need to think hard about how to raise the revenue we need to protect local wildlife, restore our water quality, provide more than a down payment for affordable housing for our workers, offer an acceptable level of support for those most in need, and mitigate congestion without paving over the county with new and wider roads.

Creating and protecting the community we value is not cheap. State revenue for our community is dropping.

It’s time for a deep conversation about creating equitable, sustainable, and stable funding for these priorities. We need local action and we need the legislature to grant us more flexibility (e.g. the authority to reduce the property tax burden on our most vulnerable residents).

Look for updates from me soon on workforce housing and the county’s efforts to protect land along the Snake River currently managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, but subject to disposal.

All the best for the holidays,

Luther