CITY OF SHORELINE
SHORELINE CITY COUNCIL
SUMMARY MINUTES OF DINNER MEETING
Monday, March 24, 2003
Shoreline Conference Center
6:00 p.m. Highlander Room
PRESENT: Deputy Mayor Grossman, Councilmembers Chang, Gustafson, and Ransom
ABSENT: Mayor Jepsen, Councilmembers Hansen and Montgomery
STAFF: Steve Burkett, City Manager; Bob Olander, Deputy City Manager; Julie Modrzejewski, Assistant City Manager; Joyce Nichols, Communications and Intergovernmental Relations Director; and Wendy Barry, Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Director
GUEST: King County Councilmember Carolyn Edmonds
Deputy Mayor Grossman convened the meeting at 6:25 p.m., welcoming King County Councilmember Carolyn Edmonds.
Councilmember Edmonds provided brief updates on the following issues: transportation funding, Brightwater Sewage Treatment Project, Richmond Beach overcrossing, Sound Transit; district courts and the Countys proposed Parks Levy.
On the issue of Sound Transit, discussion ensued on the concept of subarea equity. This concept says that money collected for Sound Transit (taxes, fees, etc.) will be spent in the subarea where it is raised/collected. Councilmember Edmonds said she is aware that this shortchanges Shoreline residents, who pay taxes to support Sound Transit yet receive no benefits from any of Sound Transits line of businesses. Councilmember Edmonds noted she is working with Sound Transit to encourage service in Shoreline from Sound Transit.
Deputy City Manager Bob Olander added that staff is working on a list of projects/services the City would like to see Shoreline receive from Sound Transit.
On the issue of King Countys proposed Parks Levy, Councilmember Edmonds provided background on the policy framework that led the King County Council to recommend this levy. She discussed the $53 million budget deficit the County faced last year and its decision to cut the county funding for parks by 30 percent and to lay off approximately 80 employees. The King County Council then provided a $9 million subsidy to the department and directed staff to develop alternative revenue sources.
At the same time, the County also commissioned a Parks Task Force to develop recommendations for the County on how to fund parks. The second phase of the Task Forces work resulted in a recommendation for a county-wide park levy to provide funding for the Countys regional park facilities. The proposed budget adopted by the King County Council is a four-year levy at 4.9 cents per thousand dollars of assessed value. This measure will go to the voters on May 20. The levy would cost the owner of a house assessed at $250,000 approximately $12.00 per year and would raise about $12 million annually.
Councilmember Gustafson said he understood Councilmember Edmonds position and the reasons for it, but he felt that there was not much in this levy for Shoreline voters.
Councilmember Edmonds suggested that the City Council need not take a position, but let the voters decide the issue for themselves on May 20.
Councilmember Ransom raised several issues about King Countys costs and administrative overhead and that it increased the number of employees by more than double at a time when many annexations and incorporations were reducing the number of people served by King County.
Councilmember Edmonds described some of the reductions King County made to balance its budget over the last two years. She said the County has created a Budget Task Force to address these very issues, especially in the criminal justice area of the budget.
Due to time limitations, the discussion ended and the meeting was adjourned at 7:25 p.m.
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Joyce Nichols, Communications and Intergovernmental Relations Director