Tussle For Yardley County Officials Angered By City Of Spokane’s Bid To Bolster Its Tax Base By Annexing Yardley

The announcement last week by the city of Spokane that much of the Yardley area was included within its proposed urban growth boundaries has renewed the struggle for control of the tax-rich industrial area.

County commissioners and Valley Fire District officials accused the city of “cherry picking” to build tax base and priming the area for annexation at the expense of county programs.

Valley Fire, libraries, and other county-funded operations in the Valley would lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual tax revenue, officials said.

City officials, on the other hand, argue they are trying to protect their utility interests in the Yardley area. That’s why they included an area roughly bounded by Havana on the west, Thierman on the east, Sprague on the south and the city limits on the north in their urban growth proposal, they said.

But Valley Fire and county officials aren’t buying it. Yardley, a largely industrial area that includes the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds, several gravel pits and railroad yards, cannot handle residential growth, they said.

“When the city exclusively targets that much of the Yardley area and leaves everything else north and south alone, that means that they’re not out to provide services,” County Commissioner Steve Hasson said. “They’re out there to build tax base.”

Yardley’s industrial character means it pays big property taxes but requires little in the way of expensive services, making it fertile tax ground for any government.

It’s not surprising then that on Friday the county announced its intention to claim Yardley as part of its growth plan.

County commissioners have the final word on urban growth boundaries. They have to approve the county’s growth plan before it can be implemented. The only plan commissioners are likely to approve is one that excludes Yardley from the city’s plan, Hasson said.

The city and county governments have disagreed for years over who should control the area between Park and Havana. It lies within the city’s planned utility service area, but outside the city limits.

However, Yardley could be annexed to the city if a majority of its land, by value, uses city water or sewer. Tax money then would go into city coffers, instead of the county’s.

Valley Fire Chief Pat Humphries said annexation by the city would cost the fire district $750,000 annually, mostly in tax revenue.

In an effort to protect Valley Fire in the event that the city does get control of the Yardley area, Humphries is hoping to negotiate a contract that would allow Valley Fire to continue fire service in the area.

The Yardley area is served by two Valley Fire stations - No. 2 at 8007 E. Trent and No. 6 at 6306 E. Sprague. The closest city fire station is its training station at Spokane Community College.

“My goal is that they would contract service to us forever,” Humphries said. “It doesn’t make sense for them to build another fire station.”

If the city chooses not to use Valley Fire’s services, it is unlikely the district will close either of its two nearby fire stations, Humphries said.

Residential neighborhoods near Yardley still need fire protection, forcing the district to keep the stations open despite the loss in tax base, Humphries said. That would put a strain on a department that could lose about 7.5 percent of its $10 million budget.

“They’re cherry picking on us,” Humphries said. “They’re taking all the value out of it.”

Libraries in the Valley would not be hit as hard, but also would be forced to serve the same number of people with less money, said Mike Wirt, county library district director.

Library district losses reportedly could approach $100,000, about 2.5 percent of its $4 million annual budget. Those losses would be spread out over nine county libraries, three of which are in the Valley.

“We would have to adjust to it,” Wirt said. “It would not mean a cutback in service or closing a library. It’s going to hurt, but it isn’t going to cripple.”

Irv Reed, city director of planning services, defended the city council’s intentions, saying Yardley is within the city’s planned water and sewer service areas.

More than 60,000 feet of water line has already been laid there, and the city water department lists 301 customers.

The city also is currently in the design phase of sewering much of the area and plans to begin construction next year, Reed said. The city is using a $193,000 grant from the state Department of Ecology to help finance the sewer’s design.

But some see the city’s utility development and proposed designation for growth as preparation for annexation.

“This isn’t an issue about growth management,” Hasson said. “This is an issue about plunder under the guise of growth management.”

Yardley represents more that $1 billion in assessed value, or about $4 million in annual property tax revenue, Hasson said.

Add that total to the value of the West Plains industrial area, which the city also proposes to make a growth area, and it could translate into significant reductions in the staffing level of law enforcement, in addition to the fire and library district concerns, Hasson said. Currently, about two-thirds of the calls sheriff’s deputies respond to are in the Valley.

“They looked for rich veins,” Hasson said. That wasn’t the intent of the Growth Management Act, he said.

The law was passed by the state Legislature in 1990 mainly to combat urban sprawl and make development more predictable. Once a growth management plan is adopted, development can only occur within designated areas.

The state expects the county to grow by at least 120,000 people in 20 years, and Yardley is not an area that can accept a lot of population, Hasson said.

“Yardley’s a very mature area,” he said. “I’m hoping that common sense will prevail,” he said.

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