By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch Pierce County shouldn't build the proposed Pierce County general-services office building, voters declared last week in a virtual opinion poll that carries no finality yet but could be a prelude to another, similar ballot measure three months from now. Fifty-six percent of voters countywide who participated in the primary election said no to the question of whether the county should go ahead with financing and construction of the building that has an estimated final price tag of $230 million. The response was to an advisory ballot measure, which is non-binding. It was ordered by the County Council after the council's controversial decision earlier this year to authorize the office project. As of last Thursday, 93,592 of the county's 454,124 registered voters GÇô a 20.6 percent turnout GÇô had returned ballots in the primary that ended Tuesday, the county elections department reported. The results won't be final until Aug. 18, but regardless of the small percentage of people who voted their preference about the proposed office building, the outcome might indicate the fate in the general election in November of a citizens referendum that opposes the project. The referendum could block the project if voter opposition is again in the majority. County officials have said that project is jeopardized by further delays in the construction, which was initially scheduled to start late this year. According to County Executive Pat McCarthy, a leading supporter of the project, county taxpayers would save tens of millions of dollars if the office complex is built and becomes the home of 19 county agencies. She says the savings would come from the consolidation under one roof of departments that now occupy leased space. Continuing "the status quoGÇ¥ will cost taxpayers more than $300 million over the next 25 years in leasing and related costs, "which is far more than the total costGÇ¥ of the proposed centralization, McCarthy said. The project received the council's approval in February but encountered citizen opposition and disagreement within the council itself. Council members voted in April to place the advisory measure in the primary election, and that decision was followed by a successful petition drive to put a referendum before voters this fall. The referendum effort was launched by Citizens for Responsible Spending, a group headed by Jerry Gibbs, a Gig Harbor retiree, and Kerry Hooks, a Frederickson community activist and a candidate in the upcoming general election for the county's Charter Review Commission. Most opposition to the proposed office is over the project's cost. Gibbs has said that "tax-paying citizensGÇ¥ should be able to say yes or no in elections to big-ticket spending by county government.
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