Final Election Results + TNT Runs Last Minute Story On Tax Increases & Police Station Rental

• Lindsay Smolko Wins Solid Victory • Heather Schiller Gets Within 33 Votes of Unseating King • Jeff Bennett Within 63 Votes of Kastama

On the final day of the election, The News Tribune published a story about concerns we raised over tax increases Puyallup City Council levied for a new police station rental project. The News Tribune compared the cost of the project to an imaginary number the City gave them on “what it would cost to build an equivalent station the City owned” rather than proceeding with the current rental project.

The News Tribune article did not compare the cost of the current police station project to what it would have cost taxpayers if the City had built one of the Public Safety Building proposals that appeared on ballot measures back in 2021-23. Voters rejected those proposals, all of which would have cost far less than the current project. The 2023 ballot measure, for instance, advertised a cost to taxpayers of $56 million including new unnecessary jail, with the remainder $20 million paid via “councilmatic bonds,” for a project total of $76 million.

The current project is apparently going to cost a total of $114.5 million, with $73.5 million said to be paid by Puyallup taxpayers. Current mayor Jim Kastama and deputy mayor Dennis King parroted the City’s claim that this somehow saves us $30+ million. Despite the best efforts of Puyallup Voters for Integrity (PV4I) to spread the word to District 1 and District 2 voters about this lie, Kastama and King were re-elected by razor-thin margins, and business will go on as usual at city hall.

How did city council do this under their leadership?

1. By neglecting to insist the city manager total up all the costs for public review in meetings and on the city website;
2. By raising taxes bit by bit over the course of sparsely attended summertime council meetings and fall budget sessions to the highest levels allowed by state law;
3. When PV4I looked into the issue last month, did the math and totaled the true cost of the new police station rental, then pointed out the many tax increases enacted to pay for it, the incumbents running for reelection launched an attack to discredit us, called us names, suggested our objective facts were somehow misleading, ignored all campaign forums and requests to debate their tax increases, falsely claimed there were no negative effects to City positions cut to make room in the budget for this incredibly expensive police station, and went on to claim that the 6% property tax increase they enacted was somehow lowering taxes because other taxing agencies raised taxes as much or more than they did. Their reaction was a study in what it means to gaslight voters.

We understand they were fighting for their political lives, having originally thought they were going to succeed in keeping their tax increases and the true cost of the police station hush-hush. Either their ad hominem attack on us worked to keep voters from looking at our numbers before voting, or we didn’t get the word out far enough into the voting public, or half of the voters in Districts 1 and 2 don’t care that the incumbents increased taxes higher than ever before in the history of the city, and prefer a police station that’s rented at twice the cost of what voters rejected (56.37% voting no in District 1, 55.37 voting no in District 2) just two years prior.

We don’t think it’s the latter, and we know there are always several reasons why people vote one way or the other, culminating into a reality that home-town incumbents rarely if ever lose reelection to Puyallup City Council. Still, we think a main reason the incumbents were re-elected is that public exposure of the tax increases and police station expense came too late for people to hear about and add up the numbers. The City still hasn’t totaled the cost of the new police station on its Public Safety Building webpage for the public to see a final tally, and it certainly never published the tax increases on any webpage for the public to review before or after the increases were enacted. We find this lack of transparency an abhorrent and unethical failing on the part of City leadership.

There was only one public meeting (July 2024) to reveal to the public that the City was planning a rented Public Safety Building project before it came up for a vote at council. The meeting (nor subsequent city council meeting) failed to reveal the cost of the project, and it didn’t inform the public that the new police station would involve the tax increases. All this despite PV4I running its successful No Jail & Yes To An Affordable Police Station campaign in 2023 that resulted in a clear message from voters saying NO to a jail, and NO to tax increases for a police station.

After the 2023 campaign, we went on with our lives, trusting that after 3 failed attempts to raise taxes for a police station and jail, that this city council, manager and police chief would build a police station for what they estimated it would cost without a jail on the land taxpayers already bought and paid for. Specifically, $35 million was the approximate cost breakdown for the police station portion of the 2023 ballot measure, plus $9 million in shared groundbreaking costs if adding the unnecessary jail, for a maximum cost of $44 million.

Compare:	The Failed 2023 Proposition…	What PV4I Recommended…	The Project Now Underway…
Features	Police Station plus 56 Bed Jail	Police Station Only	Police Station Only
Ownership	City of Puyallup (land previously purchased)	City of Puyallup (land previously purchased)	Benaroya Company
Total Building & Operating Costs over 30 years	$76 million (including $9 million shared groundbreaking, $35 million for police station, $31 million for unnecessary jail)	$44 million ($35 million police station, $9 million groundbreaking)	$114.5 million (for rent and renovation of privately owned building)
Tax Increases Required	$56 million	$0	$73.5 million
Revenue Sources	City advertised the proposition as $15/mo city property tax increase for 30 years, plus extend/refinance city hall project bond as that was paid off last year, continuing to make payments on it as usual from general fund.	Finance new police station by replacing city hall building bond as it was paid off last year, and save general fund revenues by closing down Puyallup City Jail in favor of using Pierce County Jail as all regional cities have already done and proven to save millions/year.	City never advertised tax and fee increases, but TNT says council agendas show approx $15/mo cost to city residents without expiration date including 6% increase in city portion of property tax, 2.1% PSE power/gas bill increase, 1.6% increase in internet/phone fees … plus on top of those tax increases, a 0.1% city sales tax to repay allocation of all transportation project money to this project, and cut 7 city positions unrelated to police, and raise city debt limit to maximum allowed by state law.
Additional Costs	$500,000 (half a million) advertised to renovate the first floor of City Hall to become downtown police precinct station, paid for by closing down and selling the existing Public Safety Building the city said was not possible to renovate.	$500,000 (half a million) advertised to renovate the first floor of City Hall to become downtown police precinct station, paid for by closing down and selling the existing Public Safety Building the city said was not possible to renovate.	$5 million original estimate (now out again for quote) to renovate the existing downtown Public Safety Building to maintain 56 bed jail and downtown police precinct station, plus $2 million operating cost per year from city general fund
Public Disclosure	Third time on ballot, advertised using millions in city tax dollars to promote, including taxpayer funded mailers, multiple neighborhood meetings (sales pitches) during campaign seasons.	See Nov 27, 2023 Blog Post for our detailed public disclosure and input recommendations.	One public presentation in July 2024 to promote project without disclosing cost or funding plan; one presentation by city manager in August 2024 during council meeting, and one follow-up meeting in same month to vote approval.
Result	Rejected by voters 52.51% voting NO. If approved, tens of millions in equity would have been built for future generations of Puyallup taxpayers.	Never considered. If pursued, tens of millions in equity would have been built for future generations of Puyallup taxpayers.	Enacted without soliciting public input. No equity to be built for Puyallup taxpayers.

A big thank-you to everyone who completed the survey for District 1, District 2, and District 3 during the campaign season – click links to read comments submitted by respondents.

We wish information on the new police station had come to light soon enough to create a sea-change in the election, but the incumbents won by a sliver, and we’ll need your help to keep them accountable in the future.

Please consider a donation of any amount, and invite your friends to like our Facebook page. Sponsored by Puyallup Voters for Integrity, PO Box 42, Puyallup WA 98371. No candidate or party contributes to, authorizes or controls this Political Action Committee which is registered at the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission. 2025 campaign season contributors over the $100 threshold so far include Chris Chisholm, PV4I Treasurer. When facts are presented, we want them to be accurate. If you find any errors, please email us with original-source evidence for correction.