Wenatchee to Receive Around $85,000 Per Year From State for Affordable Housing

The Wenatchee City Council voted last week to amend its city code to allow for a state sales tax credit for housing.

Mayor Frank Kuntz said the move was an implementation of House Bill 1406, passed by the state legislature last year.

"What happens is obviously most of the sales tax ends up in Olympia, and little of it ends up here. So what occasionally the folks in Olympia will do is they will say, 'Hey, some of the money that we got? We're going to send it back to you if you agree to spend it on a certain thing.'" explained Kuntz, "So in this instance they're going to send us back about $85,000 a year, and we have to spend it on affordable housing."

Payments from the state will begin sometime within the next 30 to 60 days.

"I think the finance committee talked about it today quite a bit. Let's get that money coming in. It's got to go in a separate account." Kuntz continued, "Let's start talking about it over the next six months and come up with a plan, and then make sure we spend that money in accordance with the plan that we come up with."

Kuntz added that it might take a year or two to save up enough money to use on something significant.