Island County commissioners are moving ahead with a public hearing on a proposed sales tax increase that would fund an effort to help resolve the one issue that has been the top concern of politicians and community members on Whidbey for the last decade — a dearth of affordable housing.

A one-tenth of 1% sales tax would raise about $1.2 million a year to construct, purchase, maintain and operate affordable housing in the county. The tax would mean someone who spends $10 at a restaurant or gift shop would pay one extra cent in sales tax.

The passage of House Bill 1590 earlier this year by the Washington state Legislature allows county commissioners or city councils to pass the tax increase without a vote of the people. Snohomish and Skagit counties already adopted the tax.

Commissioners will hold a public meeting about the proposed tax during a Jan. 18 meeting. Depending on the response from the public, the commissioners could hold more public hearings, adopt the proposal, delay a decision or put the kibosh on the proposal.

Commissioners’ discussion about the tax were a little strained at a workshop meeting Wednesday. Commissioner Janet St. Clair, a Democrat, expressed concern about the outreach that has been done so far in the community, noting that a chamber of commerce and the economic development committee hadn’t heard about the proposal. She said she was concerned about going forward with a public hearing.

“I’m not seeing the extensive community outreach we saw with the mental health sales tax,” she said, adding that the commissioners need to be as transparent as possible with a tax that isn’t going before the voters.

On the other hand, Commissioner Jill Johnson, a Republican, said she wanted to move forward with the public hearing so that the board can hear from a wider swath of the community and not just people in certain groups.

“I don’t want to kick the can down the road on an issue we continually say is the highest priority in the community,” Johnson said. “Community members say it’s the highest priority. Voters say it’s the highest priority. Service providers are saying it’s the highest priority.”

Johnson expressed frustration with St. Clair, claiming she was working against the tax behind the scenes. St. Clair said that wasn’t true.

“I’m not not supportive of this,” St. Clair said.

Commissioner Melanie Bacon said she wanted to have the public hearing “sooner than later.”

Joanne Pelant with the Island County Housing Support Center explained that the revenues can be valuable for using as matching funds for larger housing grants.

Pelant explained the census shows that 1,897 households in the county are severely rent burdened, which means they are paying 50% or more of their salaries for housing. The staff set as a preliminary goal the creation of 949 affordable housing units.

The staff assumed that 80% of the units would be new construction and 20% would be through acquisitions, Pelant said. Each project would likely average about 50 units and the county would need 15 total.

Pelant said the average cost is $300,000 a unit, so the county would need $15 million to meet the goal.