Don’t Fragment Valley

I became involved in opposing these two incorporation proposals after reading the material proponents put out, and the wild assumptions on revenues to be received from property and sales taxes.

I began a careful investigation into anticipated revenues and expenditures for running these two proposed cities, by studying the 1996 budgets for Spokane County and the City of Spokane.

In going through these documents, I was able to obtain some reasonable revenue projections and expenditures. This undertaking supports the fact that the proponents have not done their homework recently.

I have also consulted with most of the agencies that currently provide services to residents of the proposed cities and have worked out estimated costs for each. I also consulted with the Washington State Department of Revenue regarding sales taxes and shared revenues which are available.

Did you know that cities now have to pay 100 percent of the cost for prosecuting all misdemeanor offenses? This means hiring a judge, prosecutor, public defender, court clerk, court bailiff, building a courtroom and other related costs (or contracting for same).

Through my research, I found that the city of Opportunity would have annual revenues of $5.168 million, and expenditures of $8.886 million. The city of Evergreen would have revenues of $4.346 million, and expenditures of $6.393 million.

If such shortfalls do occur, where will the funds come from to make up the difference?

I feel it is a bad move to fragment the Valley, which for practical purposes is a single community with a common culture and mutual concerns about government services and growth.

I feel that if the Valley should be incorporated, it must be the whole Valley and it must be done right, all at once, with broad support from all Valley residents and business interests, with a campaign that fully explores the costs and regulatory impacts.

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