Open Gorge: The Skamania Dispatch & Klickitattler

[Klickitat] 🚑 Tax Fatigue vs. Local Care - 4/7 Trout Lake Council

• Kate • Season 1 • Episode 14

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In this episode, we unpack the April 7th meeting of the Trout Lake Community Council (with lots of relevant updates for all Klickitat county residents) where Skyline Hospital executives made an urgent, last-minute plea for a property tax hike. But with recent school levies already squeezing wallets across the region, local councilors are warning of serious "tax fatigue" ahead of the April ballot.

In This Episode:

  • Skyline hospital looks to lift its tax levy lid to bring critical medical services closer to home, but will "tax fatigue" be a barrier?
  • Trout Lake's affordable housing survey reveals a massive demographic blind spot and confirms a total lack of rental inventory.
  • Why missing data from young, working families could cost Klickitat County vital state parks funding.
  • Community radar: Rumors of DNR logging near the airfield and a church's new local land purchase.

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SPEAKER_00

Welcome back to the Clickitatler Podcast. Today we're diving into the Trout Lake Community Council meeting from April 7th with a lot of relevant updates for all Click-A-Tat County residents. Let's start with the biggest item in the room: your taxes and your health care. Skyline Hospital CEO Matt Coleman stepped up to the mic with a pretty tough pitch. He's asking voters to approve a levy lift lid on the April 28th ballot. If passed, this would bump up the hospital's property tax rate from 46 cents up to 75 cents per thousand dollars of assessed home value. Why the sudden ask? Coleman laid out some stark numbers. Last year the hospital gave away$1.8 million in free charity care, while their current tax levy only brought in$1.4 million. On top of that, the state of Washington is looking at a$1.5 billion loss in healthcare funds over the next few years. If Skyline gets this new funding, Coleman says they want to bring lifesaving services closer to home. Right now there are at least 66 people in the local community who have to commute all the way to the Dalles or even to Portland just for dialysis. The new money would fund in-hospital dialysis, 24-7 MRI access, and dedicated mental health care. We've heard in other episodes how mental health care is a particular barrier in Clickitac County. But the reception in the room was definitely mixed. Counselors Aaron Schmid and Dana Bombay warned that the community is going to feel totally blindsided by this. With a vote just weeks away, and with Trout Lake and White Salmon both passing recent school levies, counselors warned that locals are suffering from serious tax fatigue. Turning now to our local housing crisis, Counselor Dave Wampler shared the results of a recent affordable housing survey. While they got a decent 21% response rate, the data had a huge blind spot. 86 of the people who responded are over the age of 65. Almost all of them are homeowners. The council recognizes that this completely misses the core demographic of young working families. But the renters who did respond painted a bleak picture. There's functionally zero rental inventory between Trout Lake and White Salmon. Renters want to buy, but they simply can't afford the region's$800,000 price tags. To find a way forward, the council is going to take this data to the Big River Land Trust to explore alternative housing models where locals can buy a house, but not the land beneath it, just to start building some equity. And a quick look at the local parks. It's the exact same data problem. Councillor Pat Arnold is leading effort to update the Clickitac County Parks Plan. Doing this is an absolute requirement if the county ever wants to unlock state grant money to fix local park pipes or build outdoor school bathrooms. But again, younger families aren't taking the survey. To fix this, the council is planning a public outreach meeting in mid-May at Trout Lake Hall. And yes, they're planning it on Monday, specifically to coincide with their famous taco night. Hoping free food will get some younger folks in the door. Before we wrap up, a couple of quick hits for your community radar. First, rumors are flying that the Department of Natural Resources might log and sell roughly 150 acres near the local airfield for residential development. We haven't been able to confirm this yet, but we'll keep you up to date on what we find. Also, the Mount Adams Baptist Church just bought some community property on Little Mountain Road, and they'll be coming to a June meeting to share their plans. Looking ahead, mark your calendars for May 9th. There'll be a hazardous fuels cleanup day at the local park from 9 a.m. to noon. Also, Clickattack County Commissioner Ron Erig is scheduled to attend the May Council meeting to talk about county reorganization and local bridge replacements. Today's episode used notes provided by the Columbia Gorge Documenters powered by Uplift Local. You've been listening to a production of opengorge.org, home of the Scamania Dispatch and the Clickatler. We believe that informed communities are stronger communities. To support our work and stay up to date on everything happening in the gorge, head over to SchamaniaDispatch.com to sign up for our newsletters. You can also find us on Facebook at facebook.comslash open gorge. Join the conversation and share your thoughts on today's episode. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll talk to you next time.