Council wary of proposed tax hike
November 16, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
By J.B. Wogan
The Sammamish City Council was far from sold on its proposed 2010 budget when it went over the latest numbers Nov. 10.
The council had approved a rough version of the 2010 budget in December 2008. Even though the city had used conservative estimates for revenue, income from the real estate market and development are lower than anticipated.
The 2010 budget coming out of the city’s Finance Department proposed a $72.6 million spending plan, which is about an 11 percent increase from 2009. The budget also assumed the city would reap $41.8 million in revenues, about a 12 percent increase from 2009.
Two features of the proposed 2010 budget caught the council’s attention. The budget assumed a 1 percent increase in property taxes for Sammamish residents, the maximum increase permitted under state law. It also assumed the hiring a new detective for the Sammamish Police Department.
Neither assumption received overwhelming support from the council.
“Have staff looked at what it would be like if the mill rate didn’t go up?” City Councilwoman Nancy Whitten asked.
Whitten mentioned that property values went down in 2009 and wondered if it was fair for the city to ask for higher taxes when people were essentially poorer than the year before.
“We need to have the 1 percent property tax in order to balance the budget,” City Manager Ben Yazici said.
Lyman Howard, finance director for the city, said the city was limited in its options because it only had two major sources of revenue: property taxes and sales taxes. Howard pointed out that the sales tax hasn’t been a reliable revenue source.
Sales tax revenues are down 20 percent from the same time in 2008.
Since the Nov. 10 meeting was a study session, the council took no action, but was scheduled to continue budget discussions Nov. 17 and Dec. 1. The council is scheduled to vote on the budget at the Dec. 1 meeting.
Even though the city has been vocal about control cost increases for Eastside Fire & Rescue (its fire protection provider), police protection would be the largest increase to Sammamish’s 2010 budget (up about 8.3 percent from 2009).
The labor contract for police officers and police sergeants in the King County Sheriff’s Office went up about $201,000 for 2010.
Sgt. John Urquhart, a spokesman for the county sheriff’s office, said the King County Council approved a contract in December 2008 with King County Police Officer’s Guild that allows for a 5 percent increase in salaries for each year from 2008 through 2012.
Since the city contracts police services through the county, local police salaries are determined by the county contract. The Sammamish City Council has control over the police protection costs in the sense that it can determine how many positions to hire in its local police force, but it doesn’t control officers’ salaries.
Sammamish’s police costs could be driven by more than that contract though.
The proposed 2010 budget has the city hiring a new detective for about $118,000 per year. Police Chief Nate Elledge said a new detective could help the city in a number of ways. He said Sammamish police often don’t have the time to follow up on smaller crimes, leaving cases open ended. The new detective would have the time to address many of the misdemeanor crimes such as thefts, vandalisms and larcenies of $250 or less.
Those crimes may not seem like a big deal, but they have a huge impact on the victim, he said.
The detective would also train other officers in detective work, Elledge said.
Elledge’s predecessor, Brad Thompson, proposed the detective position, and the council gave its tentative approval in December 2008.
But a year later, with the budget in worse shape, council members are questioning the wisdom of hiring that detective.
City Councilwoman Kathy Huckabay asked if the position was really essential.
“If we could delay hiring this detective for at least one year, then we can tell the community that we’re not raising their taxes for one year,” she said.
Whitten was on the same page.
“I’d love to postpone it a year or so,” she said.
City Councilman Mark Cross was more supportive of hiring the new detective. He said the city had maintained a lean 70 person staff with no recent hires for the 21-person police department for at least three years.
“I’m going to argue for the funding,” he said.
City Councilwoman Michele Petitti asked if hiring the detective should take priority over other positions the city chose not to fill in 2010. The proposed 2010 budget showed that a parks facility scheduler and a plans examiner would not be hired, even though the council approved those positions in December 2008, too.
“Do we need the detective, or are we slammed in scheduling?” Petitti asked. “When we add a detective, that’s a continuing expense.”
Parks Director Jessi Richardson said she wasn’t asking for the scheduler position to be filled because she wasn’t sure that would be her top priority now that a recreation center is on the way. She said she might come back to the council with different staffing requests for the 2011 budget.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com. To comment on this story, visit www.SammamishReview.com.
New: Nov. 16, 2:07 p.m.
The Sammamish City Council was far from sold on its proposed 2010 budget when it went over the latest numbers Nov. 10.
The council had approved a rough version of the 2010 budget in December 2008. Even though the city had used conservative estimates for revenue, income from the real estate market and development are lower than anticipated.
The 2010 budget coming out of the city’s Finance Department proposed a $72.6 million spending plan, which is about an 11 percent increase from 2009. The budget also assumed the city would reap $41.8 million in revenues, about a 12 percent increase from 2009.
Two features of the proposed 2010 budget caught the council’s attention. The budget assumed a 1 percent increase in property taxes for Sammamish residents, the maximum increase permitted under state law. It also assumed the hiring a new detective for the Sammamish Police Department.
Neither assumption received overwhelming support from the council.
“Have staff looked at what it would be like if the mill rate didn’t go up?” City Councilwoman Nancy Whitten asked.
Whitten mentioned that property values went down in 2009 and wondered if it was fair for the city to ask for higher taxes when people were essentially poorer than the year before.
“We need to have the 1 percent property tax in order to balance the budget,” City Manager Ben Yazici said.
Lyman Howard, finance director for the city, said the city was limited in its options because it only had two major sources of revenue: property taxes and sales taxes. Howard pointed out that the sales tax hasn’t been a reliable revenue source.
Sales tax revenues are down 20 percent from the same time in 2008.
Since the Nov. 10 meeting was a study session, the council took no action, but was scheduled to continue budget discussions Nov. 17 and Dec. 1. The council is scheduled to vote on the budget at the Dec. 1 meeting.
Even though the city has been vocal about control cost increases for Eastside Fire & Rescue (its fire protection provider), police protection would be the largest increase to Sammamish’s 2010 budget (up about 8.3 percent from 2009).
The labor contract for police officers and police sergeants in the King County Sheriff’s Office went up about $201,000 for 2010.
Sgt. John Urquhart, a spokesman for the county sheriff’s office, said the King County Council approved a contract in December 2008 with King County Police Officer’s Guild that allows for a 5 percent increase in salaries for each year from 2008 through 2012.
Since the city contracts police services through the county, local police salaries are determined by the county contract. The Sammamish City Council has control over the police protection costs in the sense that it can determine how many positions to hire in its local police force, but it doesn’t control officers’ salaries.
Sammamish’s police costs could be driven by more than that contract though.
The proposed 2010 budget has the city hiring a new detective for about $118,000 per year. Police Chief Nate Elledge said a new detective could help the city in a number of ways. He said Sammamish police often don’t have the time to follow up on smaller crimes, leaving cases open ended. The new detective would have the time to address many of the misdemeanor crimes such as thefts, vandalisms and larcenies of $250 or less.
Those crimes may not seem like a big deal, but they have a huge impact on the victim, he said.
The detective would also train other officers in detective work, Elledge said.
Elledge’s predecessor, Brad Thompson, proposed the detective position, and the council gave its tentative approval in December 2008.
But a year later, with the budget in worse shape, council members are questioning the wisdom of hiring that detective.
City Councilwoman Kathy Huckabay asked if the position was really essential.
“If we could delay hiring this detective for at least one year, then we can tell the community that we’re not raising their taxes for one year,” she said.
Whitten was on the same page.
“I’d love to postpone it a year or so,” she said.
City Councilman Mark Cross was more supportive of hiring the new detective. He said the city had maintained a lean 70 person staff with no recent hires for the 21-person police department for at least three years.
“I’m going to argue for the funding,” he said.
City Councilwoman Michele Petitti asked if hiring the detective should take priority over other positions the city chose not to fill in 2010. The proposed 2010 budget showed that a parks facility scheduler and a plans examiner would not be hired, even though the council approved those positions in December 2008, too.
“Do we need the detective, or are we slammed in scheduling?” Petitti asked. “When we add a detective, that’s a continuing expense.”
Parks Director Jessi Richardson said she wasn’t asking for the scheduler position to be filled because she wasn’t sure that would be her top priority now that a recreation center is on the way. She said she might come back to the council with different staffing requests for the 2011 budget.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
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