When the county’s budget experts crunched the numbers to get a better grip on Snohomish County’s ongoing budget crisis, they didn’t assume that selling the county’s surplus land would turn the tide of red ink.
Good thing.
Although county officials have talked in the past about selling land the county owns – but may not need – at its former Cathcart landfill property, no one is saying a sale will help solve the county’s budget woes.
The most recent five-year financial forecast for the county predicts a budget deficit of almost $40 million in 2009 if the county doesn’t take steps to rein in spending. The dismal forecast prompted County Executive Aaron Reardon to warn of layoffs when it was released last month.
That has led to talk of doing without. And future conversations will no doubt include the prospects of selling property.
At Cathcart, the county has about 328 acres of potential surplus land, and selling parts of the property south of Snohomish could mean millions of new dollars for county coffers.
The Snohomish School District would like to get 60 acres or so of the property so it can build a new high school and elementary school there. And others have been eagerly eyeing a 31-acre parcel at the southwest corner of the Highway 9-Cathcart Way intersection for commercial development.
“There is very strong interest,” said Peter Hahn, the county’s public works director. “We’ve had people kicking down our doors.”
Even so, he strongly cautioned anybody who thinks a surplus property sale will be the elixir that cures the county’s financial ills.
The big issue is that the property is owned by the county’s solid waste utility.
And if the property is sold, the funding would have to stay under the utility’s control.
That means it can’t be tossed into the county’s general fund – the grab bag of dollars that pays for sheriff’s deputies, parks and other basic government services – but must remain in the solid waste fund instead.
County Council chairman John Koster said a detailed study would need to be completed first, before the council could make any decision to sell the county’s land at Cathcart.
“What we need to do is look at the property as a whole, and get an analysis on how we can get the most dollars out of it,” Koster said.
Money from a property sale won’t resolve the county’s budget dilemma, he said, because the county is in a deep budget hole. While surplus sale money would fill up the hole a bit, the county would start digging deeper again if future spending continues to outpace future revenues.
“It doesn’t fix the long-term problem,” he said.
“It wouldn’t negate the need to fundamentally change the way we do business here. It’s just that simple,” Koster said.
Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
