Annexation More Than Adding Land Plan To Add South Hill Acreage To City Would Gut Budget Of Rural Fire District 8

Rural residents would pay a lot for Spokane’s gain if an aggressive city expansion plan succeeds.

City officials want to annex an 1,800-acre chunk of the South Hill that already receives city water.

The proposal means more money for the city, which would start collecting taxes from the area, where land and buildings are appraised at about $300 million. It means better services for more than 5,000 people who would become city residents.

But the plan would gut the budget for Fire District 8, which protects 110 square miles south of Spokane, including the proposed annexation area. The remaining residents of the fire district would pay bigger insurance bills because companies would consider their homes a bigger risk.

The city plan commission plans a pair of hearings on the proposal Wednesday. District 8 commissioners said they’ll testify against the annexation and fight it in court, if necessary.

“The citizens for District 8 are about to take an unbelievable bath and the only thing we can do to prevent that is to lay down the gauntlet,” said Jim Graue, secretary for the board of fire commissioners.

“We’ve got to drag this thing out until it’s a pain to them that they can no longer stand.”

Covering portions of Moran and Glenrose prairies, the area targeted for annexation includes some of the fastest-growing neighborhoods in the county.

“There must be 100 new homes going in up there now,” said Marion Hess of the city planning department.

The owners of houses and businesses inside the annexation area pay taxes to Spokane County, the county library district and Fire District 8.

As Spokane residents, they would still pay some taxes to the county, but none to the library or fire districts. Instead, they would contribute to the city’s budget. Their property taxes would increase slightly and they would notice jumps in their bills for garbage collection, electricity, natural gas and other utilities taxed by the city.

In exchange for higher taxes, city officials say, the new residents would get better services.

They would be protected by city police officers, for instance, who are more numerous than county sheriff’s deputies.

They could use city libraries without paying the $100 annual non-resident fee. The nearest county library is in the Spokane Valley.

No one in the county is unaffected by the proposal.

The county would lose about $600,000 of the $12 million collected for road work each year, said county treasurer Linda Wolverton. It also would lose part of its sales tax from a new ShopKo and other stores in the annexation area.

The library district would lose about $150,000 a year, said district Director Mike Wirt. That money goes to libraries in unincorporated areas and small towns.

The fire district and its residents would take the biggest hit. The annexation area is less than 3 percent of the district but contributes 39 percent - $425,000 - of its $1.1 million annual budget.

“They’re taking the heart out of the chicken and leaving us with the feathers,” fire Commissioner Ken Kessler said during a District 8 meeting Wednesday.

The 107 square miles that would remain of the district is mostly pine trees and wheat fields, punctuated with a few houses. There are a few scattered subdivisions, such as Hangman Hills, Ponderosa and Painted Hills, and the communities of Valleyford, Mica and Freeman.

With the loss of the South Hill suburbs, the district would be designated rural, rather than suburban, by the Washington State Rating Bureau. The change means homeowners could expect to pay about 40 percent more for fire insurance because rural districts are considered less effective than suburban ones, Graue said.

Hess said the city wants to negotiate a financial settlement to help the fire district survive its budget loss.

In one such agreement, the city pays $11,000 a year to Fire District 9 for an annexation north of the city limits. That North Side annexation cost the district $13,000 a year in lost tax revenue.

A handful of District 8 residents attended Wednesday’s meeting and urged fire commissioners not to accept anything less than complete compensation for the lost taxes and increased insurance costs. Commissioner Lee Boling said the district also should demand that the city extend water lines and install fire hydrants in commercial areas that would remain within District 8.

Nobody who spoke at the meeting thinks the city would concede to the demands.

“The sooner we file a lawsuit, the better off we are,” said Kessler.

The district may have little to challenge in court.

The city doesn’t plan to change zoning in the annexation area, so the proposal wouldn’t cause environmental damage.

The state’s Growth Management Act encourages cities to annex urban areas.

MEMO: Two sidebars ran with this story as follows: 1. PUBLIC HEARINGS The Spokane Plan Commission will host two public hearings Wednesday on the proposed Moran Prairie annexation. The first meeting begins at 2 p.m. in the Spokane City Council chambers, 808 W. Spokane Falls Boulevard; the second begins at 7 p.m. at Moran Prairie Elementary School, 4224 E. 57th. The commission probably will decide April 12 whether to recommend the annexation. The matter then must be considered by the City Council, which could hold another hearing. The Boundary Review Board would host another hearing before deciding whether to approve the proposal, deny it, or change the annexation boundaries. People who control 75 percent of the land, by appraised value, must give their OK for an annexation to pass. Marion Hess of the city planning department said at least 70 percent of the Moran Prairie landowners already approved the annexation; it was a requirement when they received city utilities.

2. FINANCIAL IMPACT Here’s the financial impact of the city’s proposed Moran Prairie annexation on various groups: Residents of the proposed annexation area. The property tax on a $150,000 home would increase from $615 to $683 a year (not including school taxes, which would not change). They would pay new utility taxes, including 6 percent on electricity, natural gas and phones and 20.5 percent on garbage collection. They could use city libraries without paying non-resident fees, which range from $10 for three months of limited use to $100 for a year of full service. Other residents of Fire District 8. District officials say homeowners would pay 40 percent more for fire insurance. The district would lose 39 percent of its funding, although the city plans to negotiate a settlement to help off-set the loss. Other residents of unincorporated Spokane County. There would be $600,000 less each year to spend on roads and $150,000 less for books and other library materials. The county also would lose a portion of the sales tax collected from stores in the annexation area.