Bond for community center will be on April 22 ballot

It’s official.

Liberty Lake residents will be asked to pass a 20-year bond for $9.8 million to pay for a new library and community center on the April 22 ballot. The City Council voted to approve an ordinance containing the ballot language at Tuesday night’s meeting.

The decision was not all smooth sailing, however. Some council members argued for a 30-year term, saying that even though the final cost would be more because of higher interest payments, the payments made by taxpayers would be lower.

“Being sensitive to taxpayers means you ask them to pay less,” said Mayor Pro Tem Brian Sayrs. He argued that the council should consider other projects coming up, such as parks, a freeway interchange and possibly a new school. “The 30-year period, for me, has a slightly better argument.”

Councilman Patrick Jenkins said he didn’t agree. “This is a dollars and cents issue,” he said. “I don’t believe that’s a responsible move on the part of this council.”

Councilman David Crump didn’t like the higher interest payments associated with the 30-year bond. “I agree with the 20-year, myself,” he said. “I think it frees up the possibility of future projects.”

An amendment proposed by Councilman Neal Olander to change the ballot language to a 30-year term was defeated in a 4-3 vote.

The debate took a turn when Olander asked if noncity residents would be required to pay a fee to use the library. It seems wrong to have city residents pay to build a library that lakefront home owners could use for free, he said. Councilwoman Judi Owens pointed out that the library board makes those policies. “We need a library/community center,” she said. “I think it’s inappropriate for us to assume how they (the board) are going to act.”

“I feel almost blindsided by this,” said Councilman Odin Langford. “We’ve been discussing this for months and never has this issue come up. Let’s move forward to what we’re here to do.”

In the end the council voted unanimously to approve the ballot language, a move that was greeted by applause from the audience.

The council also discussed a resolution that would limit the library/community center project to $9.8 million for all phases of construction, including the parking lot, furnishings and landscaping. The resolution would place the general fund off-limits for cost overruns and require the project to be scaled back to stay within the $9.8 million budget if necessary. Crump said he agreed with the concept, but suggested tabling the document until the city attorney, who had been out of town, had a chance to look at it.

The council also discussed recommendations on how to spend an expected $4.8 million in tax-increment financing money. The TIF program diverts to developers 75 percent of property tax collections in a certain area for 15 years to help pay for core infrastructure such as arterials, parks and other improvements. The TIF area encompasses a large development north of Interstate 90 on both sides of Harvard Road that is being developed by Greenstone Corp. and is owned by Centennial Properties, a subsidiary of Cowles Co., which owns The Spokesman-Review.

Jenkins sits on the committee that evaluated the developers’ requests for money. “Our role was to analyze whether we should reimburse those projects,” he said.

The developers requested money for roads, parks and sewer and water improvements. The committee wanted to add the freeway interchange study and money for a sports complex, so dropped some developer-suggested reimbursements to keep the amount at $4.8 million. “We drew a line in the sand to match what the developers originally gave us,” he said.

The committee agreed with developer requests for $1.5 million for a Harvard Road sewer lift station and a Telido Station sanitary sewer main. It also agreed to $1.4 million for water systems on Indiana and Mission avenues. But the committee dropped partial reimbursements for phase one of West River Park and a Spokane River pedestrian bridge in favor of $500,000 for a freeway interchange study and $400,000 for the sports complex. The suggested package also includes $1 million for roads.

“We’re trying to tweak it a little bit,” said Olander, who also sits on the committee. “They’re entitled by law to get reimbursed for some of their projects.”

The projects not favored by the committee will still get done, whether they are paid for by future TIF funds or by the developer. “All these projects will get built,” Jenkins said. “The question is who pays for it.”

“They’re all worthy projects,” Olander said. “You have to draw the line somewhere. We just can’t fund very much out of the TIF.”

In other actions, the council voted to approve an ordinance that established criteria for accepting donations for parks, facilities and recreation programs. It also approved a contract with Challenger Sports to provide day camps in Pavillion Park during the summer.