Police, parks in Lake StevensÂ’ 2016 budget

LAKE STEVENS — The City Council on Tuesday approved a 2016 budget that adds new police, planning and parks staff and focuses on projects to fix parks and streets.

Council members didn’t agree on the final budget. Four voted yes, two voted no and one was absent.

The budget includes a general fund where spending outstrips income. Expenditures are budgeted at $10.65 million, a 10 percent increase from the 2015 budget. Revenues are expected to be $9.79 million, a 6 percent increase from 2015 and roughly $860,000 less than expenses. The city has $7.57 million rolled over from past years to draw from.

More than three-quarters of the general fund comes from local taxes, mainly property and sales taxes. The fund is part of a $20.5 million city budget. It’s used for day-to-day operations, such as police and planning services.

Officials plan to levy $10,611 more in property taxes citywide, an increase of about a quarter of 1 percent from this year. The tax rate is expected to drop from $1.54 per $1,000 assessed value to $1.43. However, average property values have gone up about 10 percent so homeowners likely will pay slightly more this year than last, finance director Barbara Stevens said.

The city’s 2016 budget sets aside money for seven new full-time positions and two seasonal workers, and changes some existing jobs. The city has 74 full-time employees with the new positions, not including the mayor and council.

One of the most notable changes is a shift in leadership at the police department, where the police commander position — the second-highest rank — was eliminated and is to be replaced with a second lieutenant position.

Dennis Taylor, the commander, has filed a lawsuit against the city saying he was wrongfully fired after clashing with former city administrator Jan Berg. His lawsuit alleges that Berg on multiple occasions eliminated jobs within the police department as retribution for people speaking up about problems.

The two councilmen who voted against the budget Tuesday evening, Marcus Tageant and Sam Low, requested an amendment that would have kept the police commander job.

The approved budget also adds a new desk sergeant, records clerk, police officer and support officer.

The public works crew is gaining one full-time employee and two seasonal park workers. In the planning department, an associate planner is being promoted to senior planner and new spots are added for an administrative assistant and a recreation coordinator.

The increase in parks staffing is tied to new projects. The budget includes more than $350,000 in restoration efforts. There are plans to fix up: Lundeen Park; the dock at North Cove Park; the boat launch at the end of 17th Place NE; the North Lakeshore swimming beach; and lighting and plantings at Eagle Ridge Park. The city also earmarked $250,000 to help complete phase one of Cavelero Park, a 33-acre county-owned park in Lake Stevens that is being overhauled.

Streets are another area of focus. The biggest road project is reworking the tangled intersection of Highways 9 and 204. That’s state funded with city input. City staff plan to do a pavement survey and spend $500,000 on sidewalk construction and repairs, as well. The projects are part of a $3.13 million street fund.

City leaders directed money toward keeping the lake clean with annual water quality treatments. The budget includes $105,400 for alum treatments to reduce algae blooms and $45,200 to eliminate milfoil, an aquatic weed that in the past has taken over much of the lake.

Herald reporter Rikki King contributed to this report.

Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.