The Snohomish County Council met in a closed-door session Monday to talk with legal advisers about the penalties levied against the county by Gov. Gary Locke last week.
The Council decided to wait until Wednesday before voting on a response.
Monday’s session was not open to the public, and the council didn’t offer details on how it might respond to the potential loss of about $9.2 million in gas tax revenue.
What’s certain is that the council will make some sort of move during its meeting Wednesday.
“It will be an official legislative action indicating the council’s position,” council chairman Gary Nelson said. He declined to get into specifics.
Locke, who is leaving office before the end of the month, ordered the state treasurer to withhold the county’s gas tax revenue beginning March 1.
The sanctions stem from Locke’s insistence that the County Council’s move to put farmland at Island Crossing into the city of Arlington’s urban growth area last year violates the state’s Growth Management Act.
County officials, though, say they have already taken steps to comply with the Growth Management Act.
Even so, the controversial changes for the land at Island Crossing will be hashed out in Superior Court in April.
The council has tried to change the land-use designation and zoning for property at Island Crossing so auto dealer Dwayne Lane can build a dealership at the high-profile location next to I-5. But farmers, limited-growth activists and others say the flood-prone land should stay zoned for farming.
At stake now, however, is the $9.2 million in gas tax revenue that the county uses for road construction, repairs and maintenance.
Locke said last week he chose to target the county’s motor vehicle fuel taxes because his other options for penalties would hurt county residents more.
Indeed, the sanctions could have been much worse for Snohomish County.
The governor could have ordered the state treasurer to withhold sales and use tax revenue, transportation improvement funds, urban arterial funds and the liquor profit and excise tax money.
County officials estimate that the county’s liquor board profits and excise taxes will hit $1.5 million in 2005. Transportation improvement funds and urban arterial funds combined are expected to total $1.7 million this year.
Sales and use taxes are estimated to reach a combined total of $35.1 million in 2005, however.
Both sides say the Superior Court lawsuit on the Island Crossing land-use dispute will not be affected by the penalties.
Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
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