County Relies On Yardley Area Tax Base

In 1991, the Spokane City Council quietly invested $18,000 in a program aimed at expanding the city boundaries and bringing in millions more tax dollars.

At that time, assistant city manager Bill Pupo stressed that the city has no interest in trying to annex the Spokane Valley. In a memo, senior planner Marion Hess said the city’s annexation program would shift into high gear in 1992.

Hess stressed that the memo was never intended for publication and should have been stamped “confidential.” Most of the Spokane Valley west of Park Road (which is referred to as the “Yardley industrial area”) was listed as one of the annexation targets.

City attorney Jim Sloan said that despite the memo a date had not been set for annexation of any portions of the Valley and that there has never been a significant proposal to the east.

Well, surprise!

In the Jan. 26, 1995, SpokesmanReview, we learned that the halo that the City Council and its bureaucracy has been parading around the last 3 years has suddenly vanished.

The council is laying claim to a “lucrative area” inside a proposed city - the industrial area between Havana Street and Park Road. This area includes the fairgrounds, several gravel pits, railroad yards and other industrial property.

Irv Reed, city director of engineering services, described this area during the previous week’s briefing as a “lucrative area” in terms of property taxes.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars in property taxes that support our Spokane Valley Fire District 1 and the county library system are in imminent danger of being forfeited to the city of Spokane.

Whether or not people live inside the proposed boundaries of the city of Spokane Valley, if they are serviced by Valley Fire District 1 and use the county library system, then they will have to make up that loss through increased taxes.

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