EVERETT — The city appears to be stepping away from what could have been the biggest annexation in its history.
After months of talks and more than $80,000 in consultant studies, the Everett City Council is scheduled at its meeting tonight to vote on a resolution against attempting to annex neighborhoods east of Silver Lake — a move that would have vaulted Everett’s population to 113,000, just shy of Bellevue’s, the state’s fifth-most populous city.
“For me, there was this nagging question of how this can make sense,” said Everett City Councilwoman Brenda Stonecipher, who has for months campaigned against the annexation. “I just couldn’t wrap my mind around how it could be financially feasible.”
The council in November voted 4-2 to pay up to $50,000 on further analysis, outreach and polling in the proposed annexation area.
The apparent U-turn this week follows additional analysis of revenue projections provided in a 47-page fiscal analysis by the Seattle consulting firm Berk &Associates. The city’s finance department determined the consultant’s revenue projections were too optimistic.
Council President Arlan Hatloe said he is generally a proponent of annexations, but in light of new, more modest revenue projections, he is in favor of changing direction.
“I can’t, in all good conscience, put the city at risk of a big deficit for the sake of annexation,” he said.
Councilman Mark Olson, who has also previously supported moving down the road to annexation, is taking a similar stance.
“It became quite clear the current state formula wasn’t going to be sufficient,” he said.
Olson laid some of the blame on a 2001 voter initiative that limits annual increases in property tax revenue to 1 percent, which is outpaced by the city’s cost of doing business. Cities rely on property taxes to fund services.
Everett was considering the annexation as a way to cash in on tens of millions of dollars in temporary sales tax rebates offered by the state to cities, as an incentive to pay for absorbing urban areas on their periphery.
The state Growth Management Act expects cities to eventually swallow up urban areas and take over essential services such as police and fire protection, parks and planning.
The Berk &Associates study released in October concluded that if Everett wanted to cash in on the 10-year state sales tax rebate, it should stretch its boundaries east of Silver Lake.
Even with the sales tax rebate, the analysis predicted that Everett would begin running deficits if it started providing police, fire and other services to the Eastmont, Hilton and Ruggs lakes areas.
Councilman Drew Nielson said he’s glad the city is changing direction.
“I think (Mayor Ray Stephanson’s) administration is to be commended for taking a closer look at the numbers,” he said. “Nobody dug their heels in. They decided to take a closer look and ultimately reached the same conclusion we had.”
Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
Meeting tonight
The Everett City Council is set to vote on a resolution against annexing neighborhoods east of Silver Lake at 6:30 tonight, City Council Chambers, 3002 Wetmore Ave.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
