Chamber Studies Options For Valley Government

With a three-year legal moratorium in effect, debate over Valley incorporation has for the moment died down.

Except at the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce.

For the last eight months, a 12-member chamber task force has been studying different options for governing the Valley. The group’s goal is to determine which form of government would provide the best quality of life in the most efficient manner. It will present the results to the full chamber, and the community, sometime next year.

The task force has focused its efforts on a comparison of incorporation against the status quo, a hot issue in recent years.

Valley voters have rejected four incorporation bids already this decade: in 1990, 1994, 1995 and 1997. A 1996 attempt was called off just weeks before the vote.

The areas included within the boundaries of the proposed cities of Evergreen and Opportunity, rejected by voters this February, cannot be included in any incorporation bid until February of 2000. State law requires a three-year wait after an unsuccessful incorporation bid in which voter support falls below 40 percent.

Once the task force determines what it believes to be the best option on Valley governance, the chamber might choose to actively pursue that recommendation. If that happens, it will end the influential business group’s tradition of remaining neutral on incorporation.

“The chamber has gotten some criticism for not coming down on one side or the other,” chairman Robert Henry said.

Last time the chamber surveyed its members on the issue, in 1995, they were evenly split, Henry said. Still, the chamber knew the issue would resurface. When it does, the group wants to have concrete facts and figures to help the Valley make an informed decision.

“Is incorporation more expensive or less expensive? Is it more efficient or less efficient? Our goal is to have a credible recommendation,” Henry said.

The task force began by compiling a list of governance options: annexation, consolidation, incorporation, home rule charter and the status quo. It rated each for economic development political representation and several other quality of life factors.

Following discussion, the task force narrowed the list, eliminating consolidation.

“We didn’t feel it was a political reality,” Henry said.

The group also eliminated annexation.

“In the Valley, there isn’t a real desire to annex to Spokane,” Henry said.

The group hasn’t eliminated the home rule charter option, but has set it aside for now. Because this option can take many different forms, it would be very difficult to analyze fiscally, Henry said.

The task force is now focusing on incorporation and the status quo. The most difficult part of the study, Henry said, will be answering the fiscal questions.

How much of the county’s budget is now spent on the Valley? Could an incorporated Valley provide water, sewer, police service, road maintenance and other services more efficiently than the county? Or would it cost more?

In general, Henry said, the county budget doesn’t break out geographic areas, making cost assessments difficult. And despite an extensive search, a chamber subcommittee of bankers and CPAs hasn’t been able to locate a good method for comparing the operating costs of cities to that of counties.

Task force chairman John Hanson said the chamber will probably have to hire a research firm with access to local, state and national databases to get the comparisons it seeks. Part of the firm’s job would be to gather cost figures from cities with demographics similar to an incorporated Valley.

“We are really, honestly trying to do a credible job at this,” Henry said. At first, “we thought it was going to take us three, maybe five months. Now, it’s an open time frame.”

Once the chamber determines its preferred governance option, it will decide the extent of its own role in promoting it. The three-year restriction on new incorporation attempts, Henry said, gives the chamber plenty of time to find the answers it needs.

, DataTimes