Ballot issues will shape state, county

October 20, 2009

By Warren Kagarise

By Warren Kagarise and Chantelle Lusebrink

Washington voters will decide between now and Nov. 3 whether to cap property taxes, add additional protections for conservation land and whether to extend the rights of married spouses to domestic partners.

King County voters will also decide to update language in the county charter through a series of housekeeping measures for which voter approval is required.

The statewide property tax measure, however, has attracted attention from Sammamish municipal and school district officials. Initiative 1033 would limit the growth of city, county and state revenue to inflation and population growth, not including voter-approved revenue. Any revenue above the I-1033-mandated cap would be used to lower property taxes.

Activist Tim Eyman — known for past tax-busting efforts — led the push to get the measure on the ballot.

“We’re not reducing property taxes by making government smaller,” Eyman said. “We’re reducing property taxes by limiting the way government grows.”

Local I-1033 opponents said the measure would force deep service cuts.

I-1033 “puts governments into a financial hole from which they can’t get out as the economy improves,” Issaquah Mayor Ava Frisinger said.

Sammamish City Manager Ben Yazici said the city Finance Department estimates I-1033 would cost Sammamish about $13.9 million in the next six years.

“If Initiative 1033 passes, it will be a game changer for us and for many cities,” Yazici said.

Shannon Parthemer, a spokeswoman for the Lake Washington School District, said the district estimates I-1033 would result in 219 less teachers and raising class sizes by seven students per classroom. In monetary terms, the district would see $57.8 million in losses between 2011 and 2015 if the initiative passes. The district’s school board has scheduled a public hearing about I-1033 at its Oct. 26 meeting.

Estimates from the state Office of Financial Manage-ment show the Issaquah School District could lose $38.9 million by 2015. The Issaquah School Board voted to oppose the measure. Meanwhile, the Issaquah High School PTSA is part of the Vote No on I-1033 campaign, a coalition of business, civic and labor groups.

“I think the results for 1033 won’t be seen immediately,” said Kelly Munn, a parent and education advocate. “It is going to be a slow, hard march downhill for Issaquah, and year by year we are going to be cutting more and more.”

Munn said education reform and the money to pay for it would stall, making school districts less likely to reach goals and objectives laid out for them by state and federal governments.

As district officials decide where to cut, they might look at what is essential to move children forward and what programs may not work anymore.

Despite any good the measure may do, children at either end of the achievement spectrum would suffer most, Munn said.

“We are going to stall for five years, then put all of our efforts into running another bill to rescind it,” she said. “We have to change the initiative process. This is no longer working. No one wants to pay taxes, but everyone wants services.”

Lake Washington school officials are also alarmed by the proposal.

While the board has not formally taken a position on the initiative, School Board member Doug Eglington said the bill would be counterproductive. He pointed to the cuts made by the school system this year and said, “that would just be compounded if (I-1033) were to go into law.”

Eastside Fire & Rescue Fire Chief Lee Soptich said he and his staff are concerned about the losses I-1033 could spur.

EFR provides fire protection and emergency response to Issaquah, Sammamish, North Bend, Carnation and parts of unincorporated King County.

“My professional opinion is that this will be the death nail for services,” Soptich said. “The only thing that can come out of it is service-level reductions, other than taxpayer relief.”

Eyman dismissed scenarios predicted by local officials as “pre-election hysteria.” He pointed to I-747: In 2001, voters passed the measure to limit annual property tax increases to 1 percent. Elected officials said the cap would force dramatic service cuts. After the measure passed, Eyman said, governments adapted to the new limit.

Courts later declared the measure unconstitutional. In 2007, however, the Legislature reinstated the 1 percent cap.

If governments can work within the framework of the 1 percent cap, Eyman said, the proposed limit should be workable as well.

“We’re going to give them a much higher limit: the rate of inflation and population growth,” he said.

Another controversial issue will go before voters on the Nov. 3 statewide ballot. Referendum 71 would extend the rights of married spouses to same-sex couples and unmarried senior couples registered with the state.

Gov. Chris Gregoire signed the expansion May 18. Opponents of the expansion then gathered signatures to send the item to voters for a referendum.

When a measure signed by the governor is put up for referendum, voters choose “approved” to accept the law or “rejected” to eliminate it.

King County voters will also decide whether to add the Open Space Amendment to the county charter. The item would strengthen protections for county land along Issaquah Creek, parts of Cougar and Squak mountains, and dozens of other natural areas throughout King County.

If voters approved the Open Space Amendment, protected properties could only be sold by a supermajority vote of the King County Council.

County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, who represents Issaquah, said although officials had no intention of selling the properties, the measure amounts to “us protecting ourselves from us.”

Lambert said the Open Space Amendment would mean more than 90 designated properties would be “extra-extra-extra protected.”

The measure would not enable the County Council to buy more land or spend taxpayer money.

The council voted 9-0 to send the measure to voters. In addition to the County Council, the Issaquah Alps Trails Club and Issaquah Environmental Council endorsed the Open Space Amendment.

No organized opposition to the charter amendment has materialized.

Terry Lavender, co-chairwoman of Yes on the Open Space Amendment, said the item would lay the groundwork for notices and hearings if officials sought to change the status of a protected site.

“We all believe it’s protected,” Lavender said. “The reality is, the protections could be undone.”

In addition to the Open Space Amendment, King County voters will decide three other charter amendments, or housekeeping measures to update the governing document.

Amendment No. 1 would remove obsolete material from the charter about how King County should transition from pre-charter to charter government. The switch to charter government occurred 40 years ago.

Amendment No. 2 would repeal a section of the charter adopted in 1969 and now outdated.

The section requires county agencies to present work programs and request funding each quarter. Officials said the system is outmoded and does nothing to improve fiscal control.

Amendment No. 3 would require Charter Review Commission appointees to be confirmed by the County Council.

Furthermore, the amendment would require findings and recommendations of future commissions to be considered in public meetings.

Reporter J.B. Wogan contributed to this report. Comment at www.SammamishReview.com.