Mike Prager

A Spokane city move to collect an estimated $32,000 in lost city admission tax each year is drawing fire from critics, who said the collections could hurt owners of smaller entertainment venues. Treasurer Ellen Dolan has asked the City Council to approve an ordinance that would make owners and lessees jointly responsible along with event organizers to pay the city's 5 percent admission tax.

The nation's capitol holiday tree, a Pacific silver fir cut from the forests of the Olympic Peninsula, will be hauled into downtown Spokane this afternoon and parked along West Main Avenue between Lincoln and Post streets on its way to the other Washington. A brief send-off ceremony is planned at 5:30 p.m.

Tax collections in Spokane are expected to increase by 3.2 percent on existing property in 2007, despite a 17 percent average rise in assessed property values during 2006. As a result, homeowners will likely see only a small increase in their property tax payments to the city, Spokane budget officials said Monday. The state limits annual property tax increases without voter approval.

The Spokane fire pension board on Thursday voted to hire an independent outside lawyer to fight a move by city officials to dump the city's longtime administrator of its retired firefighter medical care program. City officials described their proposed changes as a first step toward curbing runaway costs for fire pensioners.

Spokane Mayor Dennis Hession wants to find savings in the escalating cost of providing health care to 650 retired police and firefighters, but a plan unveiled in recent days is drawing fire from public safety unions. Hession, through his financial office, is proposing a $417,000 annual savings by changing administrators for the retirees' health benefits. The money could be redirected to police or other city services, said Chief Financial Officer Gavin Cooley.

Spokane City Council members on Monday rejected an appeal by residents of the Five Mile Prairie area who are fighting a 42-lot housing development known as Estates at Rocky Ridge. The council voted 6-1 to uphold the hearing examiner decision in May. Councilman Bob Apple cast the lone vote for the appeal because of environmental concerns, inadequate access to adjoining parcels and procedural issues, he said.

Spokane Mayor Dennis Hession is backing away from plans to let residents from outside Spokane to serve on a powerful city ethics committee, a proposal that quickly drew fire this week from City Council members. "It's not appropriate," said City Councilman Brad Stark, noting that the ethics committee would have the power to recommend recall of the mayor and City Council members if voters approve a measure on the Nov. 7 ballot. "Citizens and citizens only have the right or power to remove their elected officials."

Fourteen local social service agencies got a funding boost Monday when the Spokane City Council approved spending $650,000 to ease homelessness throughout Spokane County. The money is coming from a new $10 fee charged to county real estate transactions and will fund agencies that help people in danger of losing their homes; temporary housing facilities; and programs for mental health, substance abuse, job training and other issues.

Public comment is being accepted in the planning department at City Hall through Friday afternoon on a 100-unit condominium project proposed for the southwest corner of 57th Avenue and Hatch Road. The Tuscan Ridge planned unit development on 25 acres is expected to go before the city hearing examiner after the public comment period closes after which a hearing date can be set. The project includes an activity center, storage area and maintenance facility. Comments may be made to the planning department on the third floor of City Hall at 808 W. Spokane Falls Boulevard.

A motorcycle officer seriously injured in a crash Sept. 26 on North Monroe Street was pursuing an unsafe driver at about 45 mph when a van pulled in front of him, investigators said. Spokane police Sgt. Rick Dobrow is recovering at home for an extended period from multiple fractures, broken teeth and other injuries suffered when he slammed into a van driven by Crystal Kilbride, 33, who is facing three potential violations. The officer is expected to return to work.

Developer Marshall Chesrown is seeking millions of dollars in local property taxes to help cover some of the public improvements needed for his Kendall Yards development on the north bank of the Spokane River. Spokane City Council members on Thursday were asked to support a plan in which part of Kendall Yards property taxes would be diverted to pay for public improvements such as sidewalks, streets and utilities.

Spokane City Council members on Monday approved an application by Haskins Steel Co. of Spokane to relinquish a one block section of a city street so the company can expand its manufacturing facility near East Sprague Avenue and North Freya Street. Council members voted unanimously in favor of the street vacation of Rebecca Street from Main to Front avenues. The steel company would pay the city $36,200 to take over the right-of-way. The company said it needs the property to make room for a 54,000-square-foot addition.

Spokane City Council members are asking residents to provide advice on their efforts to write a 2007 budget in a survey being mailed out in city utility bills this month. But unlike the past two budget years when the council faced widespread staffing cuts and higher taxes, next year's city budget is expected to be largely a continuation of funding levels from 2006.

Spokane Mayor Dennis Hession is expected to deliver an upbeat message on the state of the city during tonight's City Council meeting at 6. Under the city charter, the mayor is required to deliver the annual speech during the second council meeting in October.

The city of Spokane apologized Monday for illegally withholding nearly 90 public documents related to a failed River Park Square parking garage deal in the 1990s. The apology was part of an out-of-court settlement approved by the City Council on Monday, in which the city agreed to pay journalist Tim Connor, Camas Magazine and its publishers $299,000 for withholding the documents.