Valley voters reject tax for street paving

Wed., Sept. 15, 2004

By Trinity Hartman trinityh@spokesman.com

Spokane Valley residents don’t want a tax increase.

A $6 million bond to pave the full width of roads torn up by sewer work was failing Tuesday, with 49 percent approval. The measure needs a supermajority of at least 60 percent to pass. Thousands of absentee ballots remain to be counted.

It was the newly incorporated city’s first attempt to pass a property tax increase.

The apparent failure disappointed, but didn’t surprise, Spokane Valley council members. Without the extra money, Spokane Valley officials say the new city – which incorporated in 2003 – will only see trenches patched, not paved curb to curb. To install sewer lines, workers dig trenches in the streets. Sometimes roads are narrow enough that the trench patch covers the entire width of the road. On wider roads, crews will patch only the holes created by the trenches.

“I’m not surprised. That’s the will of the people,” Councilman Gary Schimmels said after Tuesday’s City Council meeting, shrugging his shoulders.

The bond would have increased property taxes by 21 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. It irked some residents that during Valley incorporation, proponents said the new city could provide better services using less money than citizens paid Spokane County.

The road bond increase would’ve brought taxes back up to pre-incorporation levels of $1.81 per $1,000 of property value.

“They told us if we became a city they weren’t going to do all this. It’s typical politics. They say one thing, and once they get elected, they do the opposite,” said resident Doug Clark, who voted Tuesday morning at Trinity Lutheran Church.

City officials have said the reality is the city is taking in $4 million less in sales-tax revenues than it had expected to receive.

Councilman Mike Flanigan pointed out that Valley residents historically haven’t been fond of tax increases and, like Schimmels, said he wasn’t shocked the measure appeared to be headed toward failure.

“I think you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody who’s surprised,” Flanigan said.

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