Stanwood property tax increase proposed
Published 11:09 pm Sunday, October 26, 2008
STANWOOD — In her 2009 budget message to the city, Mayor Dianne White praised city staff and City Council members for holding the line on spending.
The $14.7 million preliminary budget doesn’t make any cuts in city services, but it includes no new programs and it leaves vacant several staff positions. No layoffs are anticipated, but a property tax increase is proposed.
City finance director Crystil Collins said tough economic times call for vigilant financial planning, especially among municipal staff in small cities in Washington.
“In light of the economy and the financial constraints that this has put on cities and counties, we feel that we have presented a financially responsible 2009 preliminary budget,” Collins said. “Our department heads work well together and understand that the way the economy is going, it has to be tight.”
Sales tax collections and other city revenues are down, but costs have increased about 6 percent, Collins said. “We’re very concerned that expenditures are exceeding revenues. This really puts a strain on small cities,” she said.
To make up for some of that lost revenue, the city of Stanwood is proposing to increase its property tax levy by 1 percent, the maximum increase allowed by state law without voter approval, Collins said.
The tax increase would bring in an additional $17,500 to city coffers, she said.
A public hearing on the tax increase has been set for Nov. 13.
In addition, sewer rates may go up in 2010 because the city is required by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to begin a sewage solids removal program, expected to cost about $500,000 every three years. Officials are hoping this can be put off for a year, but a reserve fund in the sewer budget may be able to cover the costs of the disposal program, Collins said. After that, sewer rates could rise to offset the federally required program.
The city’s $6 million general fund, which supports the majority of city services, could require the use of about $31,000 in reserve funds in 2009, she said.
However, a local improvement district bond for street, sewer, water and drainage improvements in the commercial district on the east side of the city has been paid off. The city is required to maintain a fund to guarantee the payment of the bond. Now that the LID is paid off, state law requires that the money, about $525,525, be returned to the city’s general fund and its reserve fund, Collins said.
The City Council has scheduled a budget hearing Nov. 13.
Reporter Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427 or gfiege@heraldnet.com.
Public comments
The Stanwood City Council has scheduled public hearings on a proposed 1 percent property tax levy increase and the city’s 2009 preliminary budget. The hearings are set for 7 p.m. Nov. 13 in the board room of the Stanwood-Camano School District administration office, 26920 Pioneer Highway, Stanwood.
