Communications tax to go before voters

COLFAX — Whitman County voters will decide on a 1/10 of 1% sales tax increase for emergency communications on the November ballot.

Whitman County commissioners confirmed the action Monday, which would go to pay for equipment including Whitcom consoles, two radio towers, and more.

“The need is critical,” said Bill Tensfeld, county emergency management director.

The radio towers are estimated to cost $1.1 million each.

“We need a couple to get a little more redundancy in our system,” Tensfeld said.

The measure would pay for first-responder radios.

“The radios are now no more than glorified compu...