Verner offers new tax proposals
Council may seek as much as $41 million
City leaders are preparing to ask voters for more taxes.
Mayor Mary Verner this week recommended that the Spokane City Council seek between $11 million and $41 million for projects that could include moving the city’s garage and street department to a new complex, building an animal shelter, and construction of a new police shooting range and evidence storage building.
At a council briefing Thursday, administrators presented tax proposals that would raise $11 million, $22 million or $41 million by adding or subtracting options.
The council has until Aug. 12 to decide if it will ask voters for the money in November. Council President Joe Shogan said he expects a decision by Aug. 4. If the request makes the ballot, 60 percent support is required for approval.
Verner told the council there isn’t room in the 2009 budget for extra construction projects because of the economic downturn. “We already are looking at a 2009 that is very, very tight,” she said.
Budget director Tim Dunivant said if the city borrowed for the $11 million option, it would cost about $900,000 a year to pay it back for 20 years. Dunivant projects the city will collect $2.2 million less than it expected in 2008, mostly because of declining sales tax proceeds. Some of the gap will be bridged by taxes received from the recent annexation of the Costco on North Division Street and by spending less than forecast. The city likely will use money left over from 2007 to balance the budget.
Despite the economic downturn, city leaders hope to hire an additional dozen officers to finish a policing plan instituted last year.
Among the projects considered for a bond vote, Verner said, the city has no choice in paying for an animal shelter. She also said the city must move ahead to solve environmental problems attributed to the police shooting range.
The range, adjacent to the Spokane River near Spokane Community College, has raised concerns about lead contamination. Building a new range and cleaning the old one would cost about $2 million.
Earlier this year, the council decided to switch animal control providers from SpokAnimal C.A.R.E. to the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service in 2010. To join SCRAPS the city must pay $3 million to expand the county’s shelter.
Also on the mayor’s list of priorities is a new building for police evidence. The cost would be $6 million to $17 million, dependingon whether the structure includes offices to allow city employees to move out of rented space.
Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said the city has two main evidence buildings and is running out of space. One of the structures doesn’t have a fire suppression system. “The building itself would be easily compromised,” she said. “We’re beyond ‘It would be nice.’ ”
The most expensive tax option would double the size of the bond to include $21 million to move the city’s garage, street department and other functions operating at Normandie and Mission to the city’s operations complex in the Chief Garry neighborhood.
Eventually, the city hopes to use the Normandie land for a Police Department complex. Under two of the options presented by Verner for a November vote, the new police evidence building would be constructed on the site.
Public Works Director Dave Mandyke said the site on Normandie is dilapidated and inefficient. “I don’t know that I’d say dangerous, but it’s getting close to that point,” he said. “This isn’t a frivolous expenditure to build something fancy for public works. It’s needed and necessary.”
Some structures on the five-acre property predate automobiles. Horse stalls on the site are used for vehicle storage and parking.
At Thursday’s council briefing, officials considered whether the proposal could be labeled a “public safety” bond.
“As someone once told me – some very wise person – buildings and facilities are not sexy, animals and public safety are,” said Shogan. “If you isolate, let’s say public safety and animals, you have probably have a better chance of passing something.”
But City Attorney Howard Delaney said the city believes the $41 million option – half of which would pay for streets and similar activities – could be labeled “public safety” on a ballot because moving the garage would clear the site for the police at a future date.
“The cornerstone of centralizing law enforcement services is to vacate that Normandie site and at least start the property room there as step one,” he said.
The city Fire Department is expected to request a new property tax vote next year.
Shogan said possible consideration for a county jail complex in November 2009 could affect the timing of the request for a fire bond.
“I’ve heard the fire folks saying, ‘Well, do we want our bond to be at the same time the public is going to asked for a $245 million jail bond?’ ” Shogan said. “Fire may say, ‘Hey, we want to do our bond in the spring of 2009.’ ”