Future Of Valley At Core Of Issues Incorporation, Freeholders Will Each Affect Services, Taxes

It is a year of decision in the Spokane Valley.

A drive to form a city there looks strong. The city would be smaller and more urban than in two previous proposals that failed at the polls.

At the same time, freeholders are nearly done with their two-year, $200,000 look at local government. They plan to ask voters to combine Spokane city and county governments.

Voters county-wide will decide consolidation, although its impact may be the greatest in the Valley and similar unincorporated urban areas. Incorporation will be on Valley ballots alone.

Election dates are not yet set.

Before they vote on either proposal, Valley residents must consider whether it’s worth paying new taxes to get more police, better parks, smoother roads and a bigger voice in local government.

If voters reject both proposals, Valley residents never will enjoy services as good as those in Spokane, where residents pay more in taxes.

The county can’t provide services at city levels because it cannot levy the taxes those services require. That’s why former King County Executive Tim Hill encouraged urban residents to form cities; six communities in his county have taken that advice since 1990.

If voters approve either incorporation or consolidation, Valley residents can expect better services. But not without higher taxes.

Freeholders concede consolidation would bring the utility tax to the Valley, as well as unincorporated urban areas on the North Side and South Hill. It would collect about $10 million for police, libraries and parks in those areas.

Valley incorporation boosters don’t like to admit it, but their city would raise taxes, as well - especially if it improved services as dramatically as campaigners predict.

The Spokane County Boundary Review Board estimates that without a tax increase, the city could collect $33 million. That money, which now goes to the county, is less per capita and square mile than is spent at any of the state’s 10 largest cities, including Federal Way, which incorporation boosters hold up as a model of efficiency.

Most of those cities levy a utility tax, a business and occupation tax, or both.

Both proposals would have startup costs. A financial consultant recently told freeholders it would cost $7 million to consolidate the two governments. There is no similar estimate for the proposed city, which would need workers, offices and equipment.

Freeholders hope consolidation will bring long-term savings by combining chores the city and county now handle separately.

“We can’t say to you that this new government is going to save you money or be revenue-neutral or cost you money,” freeholder Al Lewis told Valley Chamber of Commerce members Wednesday. “But we do have the tools in there to be able to (save money).”

Valley incorporation boosters in the audience scoffed at the remark. Their new city would be more efficient, they said.

“Bigger is more expensive so smaller should be less,” said Joe McKinnon, co-chairman of the incorporation campaign.

In truth, neither group can make promises. Politicians who are not yet elected would decide how much to spend and collect.

Valley residents who want more services must judge for themselves which option is better.

There’s no turning back once the decision is made.