STANWOOD — Park and trail advocates are asking for thoughts on a possible new taxing district to pay for improving and maintaining public spaces.
Voters in Snohomish shot down a similar measure in August 2015. If a metropolitan park district goes on the ballot in Stanwood and passes, it could be the first in Snohomish County. Several other types of park districts, with different legal and financial authority, exist in the area.
The vote in Stanwood wouldn’t come until late this year or early next, at the earliest.
A public meeting to talk about a possible park district is set for 4 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 10220 270th Street NW.
A city advisory committee has been working to learn where there are gaps in the parks and trails system in Stanwood, and what would be needed to fill them.
The group came up with a list of priorities, among them an upgrade to the Heritage Park ball fields and loop trail; a new playground for Church Creek Park; a boat launch at Hamilton Landing; and rebuilding a barn at Ovenell Park, where inspectors determined the old barns needed to be demolished because of stability issues and a beetle infestation.
Adding to or upgrading parks isn’t the most challenging part financially, though, city administrator Deborah Knight said. Improvements can be made with the help of grants, donations, volunteers or setting aside city dollars for a one-time purchase. The hard part is long-term maintenance. Adding to parks and trails increases the burden on a staff that already splits its time between parks, streets and other public works projects.
The advisory committee estimates that about $6.3 million is needed over the next six years to fund the gap between the city’s park budget and what’s needed to finish work and keep up with maintenance. For the current fiscal year, Stanwood set aside about $278,000 for parks. That’s about 5 percent of the general fund.
The committee is trying to find out if voters would support a metropolitan park district, which would create a new tax specifically for parks and trails. Proponents say it would give public spaces a dedicated source of funding.
“What we’re facing is we’ve added more park area, but we don’t have more money to pay for parks,” Knight said. “As public safety costs increase, parks kind of get chipped away at.”
About two thirds of the city’s general fund — the same part of the budget that pays for parks — goes to police and fire services.
A park district can levy up to 75 cents per $1,000 property value under state law. That’s $225 a year on a $300,000 home. A district may choose to set a lower rate.
The size of the proposed district is one topic for Monday’s meeting. It could be bounded by Stanwood city limits, thereby landing on the ballot as soon as November and focusing on projects already researched by the advisory committee. However, it also could go beyond the city, possibly following school district boundaries that spill into unincorporated Snohomish County and stretch over Camano Island. If there’s interest in a larger district, more research needs to be done on how people outside of the city feel about the idea and what projects are on their list of priorities, Knight said.
The advisory committee took a close look at the Snohomish measure that failed two years ago, with nearly 69 percent of voters opposed. The option to set a lower tax could help Stanwood find a level where they are able to cover park costs without over-burdening homeowners, Knight said. The numbers need to be clear to voters.
“I think the take away from (Snohomish) was we really need to define the projects we want to do and the levy rate we want to set,” she said.
The committee hopes to make a recommendation to the Stanwood City Council June 29 on whether to move forward with a park district.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
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