Cooperation gets job done
Published 2:24 pm Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Monday night’s joint meeting in Marysville of the Snohomish County Council and Marysville City Council, during which both approved an annexation of about 19,000 residents into the city, was aptly symbolic of the cooperation that has brought this sensible move close to reality.
Assuming the Boundary Review Board gives the plan a final OK, it will cap an aggressive but rational and responsible effort to bring existing urban areas into the city limits, where urban services can best be delivered. That’s the biggest reason why annexations are desirable — they increase efficiency by putting urban areas under city control, allowing the county to focus on serving rural areas.
This one makes particular sense, in that it brings into the city limits long-established neighborhoods just east of State Avenue, where many residents probably thought they already live in Marysville. Once the annexation is completed, those residents are expected to see their total tax bills go down slightly.
Mayor Dennis Kendall and City Administrator Mary Swenson launched this annexation strategy in 2005, wisely starting with areas that would be developed commercially to generate the revenue that made further, largely residential, annexations possible. The reality of annexations is that residential property taxes usually don’t cover the increased costs of providing police and other services. Sales-tax revenue is needed to make it all pencil out.
A soon-to-expire state sales-tax rebate to cities that annex at least 10,000 residents made it important to get this one completed now. Lynnwood and Lake Stevens are among other cities moving ahead with annexations to take advantage of that deal. The Legislature should consider more such incentives.
When it’s completed, this annexation will bring Marysville’s population to more than 56,000, which should make some state and federal dollars easier to get — many grants for cities of at least 50,000 residents can go directly to the city without having to be filtered through county agencies.
A difficult barrier was figuring out how to pay for the needed $40 million widening of 88th Street NE in the annexed area, a challenge for strapped city and county budgets alike. After years of talks, the county finally agreed to put $6 million toward the project, which will enable the city to start buying up right-of-way. The county will also help the city secure state and federal dollars for more work.
Kudos to city and county staff for making this deal work, and to the County Council for going to Marysville to finalize it. Working together, Marysville and Snohomish County forged a complicated change that will work in everyone’s best interest.
