Clallam: On taxes, county giveth more than taketh

2006-11-20
by JIM CASEY
Peninsula Daily News

PORT ANGELES, WA-- Clallam County government is good for Clallam County -- to the tune of about $40.4 million in 2007 after deducting sales and property taxes -- according to its chief administrator.

Jim Jones said he reached that conclusion as he prepared the county's 2007 budget.

``I was pleasantly surprised,'' Jones said before addressing the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce last week,

Jones said county government is a major economic engine that pumps many more dollars into people's pockets than it takes in taxes.

Using preliminary 2007 figures, Jones said the county will collect -- or ``take out'' -- $24.4 million in taxes from all sources.

Those include taxes on property, timber, sales, gas, real estate transactions, hotel/motel receipts and taxes that fund 9-1-1 and the Opportunity Fund.

It will produce -- or ``put back'' -- $64.8 million that includes $24.6 million in wages, salaries and benefits, plus roughly $40.2 million in capital projects and services.

Much of this ``profit,'' Jones acknowledged, will flow from federal and state grants that themselves have become a major support of county government.