Clark County Charter Review Commission Chair Brandon Erickson, center, reads a series of proposed amendments during a meeting at the Clark County Public Service Center in Vancouver, Wash. on July 8, 2026. The amendments include a proposal that could make it harder to raise local taxes.
Elena Neale-Sacks / OPB
Clark County voters will see hefty ballots in November.
Residents will be asked to weigh in on 10 changes to how the local government operates, county officials decided at a public meeting on July 8. Most of the proposals are straightforward measures that aim to improve government transparency and effectiveness. There’s one amendment, though, that could make it significantly more difficult for local elected leaders to raise taxes, if voters approve it.
A slim majority of the county’s charter review commission — which convenes every five years to amend the local version of a constitution — backed a change that would require a county council supermajority of two-thirds to raise existing local taxes or levy new ones.
The council only has five members, so a two-thirds majority effectively means four-fifths, or 80% of the council.
“That’s a pretty high threshold,” Chuck Green, who some people in the community call “Charter Chuck,” said in an interview. He was elected to serve on the previous charter review commission in 2021.
Green wasn’t surprised by the 8-7 decision to send the tax amendment to voters, but he said, in making this move, the current commission is wading too deep into policymaking waters.
“If you don’t like the decisions the County Council makes, elect new county councilors,” he wrote in a memo to the commission ahead of the vote.
At the meeting, several public commenters voiced concerns about the supermajority amendment, fearing it would undermine democracy and create gridlock by giving a conservative minority on the council the power to shut down tax increases. Others, like La Center resident Darlene Kulla, supported the effort.
“We need the council to put more thought in before raising taxes,” Kulla said during the meeting. “We are not against taxes, we’re against extra taxes.”
The amendment has drawn scrutiny over perceptions of an ideological tilt. According to the description in county records, it reflects “a policy preference for limiting tax increases to help control the overall cost of living.”
In Green’s opinion, policy preferences shouldn’t be the purview of the charter review commission. “A charter is the foundational document of the county,” he said. “It’s not a policy document.”
Clark County is one of seven counties in Washington with “home rule” status. Adopting that form of government in 2014 has allowed the county to periodically change the rules of local government outlined in its charter without explicit permission from the state.
If voters do ultimately approve the supermajority amendment in the general election, Clark County would be only the second “home rule” county in the state with such a requirement.
The other is Pierce County, which has seven county councilors. Their supermajority requirement amounts to five out of seven votes, or 71% — lower than the threshold that could be adopted in Clark County.
All 10 charter amendments that appear on the ballot will need a simple majority of votes to pass.
