The Metro King County Council is considering asking voters in May for a 5.5-cent, six-year levy to keep open rural parks and regional parks, such as Marymoor Park and Cougar Mountain Park.
The levy would cost the owner of a $250,000 home $13.75 a year and raise $12 million a year.
The idea doesn’t sit well with Lake Forest Park or Shoreline officials, who say their cities operate their own parks and would not see a direct benefit. Also, city officials say they must consider their own budget constraints when thinking of going to voters for increased property taxes.
“What I don’t want to have is money levied inside our city, going outside the city,” said Lake Forest Park Mayor Dave Hutchinson. “We created and support our own parks system and I’d rather that any money raised for parks go toward our own parks.”
Shoreline city manager Steve Burkett echoed the sentiment, saying, “Our residents already pay $6 million a year to the county, and this would add another $200,000 to maintain parks outside of our city.”
In 1997, Shoreline took over 23 county park facilities totaling 330 acres. Two additional parks were taken over by the city when it annexed property in 1999 leaving no county parks in the city.
Metro King County Council member Carolyn Edmonds wasn’t on the county council at the time but speculated on what happened to the money the county formerly spent on the parks.
“No one in the city of Shoreline felt that King County was doing an adequate job of maintaining the parks at the time we owned them. I would say one thing that may have happened is that they didn’t have to continue the poor level of maintenance in Shoreline and switched to providing adequate level of care elsewhere,” Edmonds said.
Lake Forest Park has developed its own system of five parks: Blue Heron, Animal Acres, Lyon Creek Nature Preserve, Horizon View and the Grace Cole Nature Park. The county manages the Burke Gilman Trail that cuts through the city along Lake Washington, and some of the money could potentially go toward its maintenance, Edmonds said.
Edmonds said the attitude of not wanting the county to ask the voters for support because they might not support city property tax levies later on is not good government.
“How is that serving the residents if their leaders have such a ‘what’s in it for me’ focus? — why not let the residents make the choice,” she said.
If passed, $8 million of the $12 million a year it would raise would be spent on regional services like Marymoor Park, the county aquatics center in Federal Way, the fairgrounds and regional trails like the Burke Gilman. Another $1 million would be spent on rural unincorporated areas outside of the growth boundary, and $3 million would provide increased maintenance and a grant program for recreational sports, Edmonds said.
“I understand the angst cities have over the urban subsidy and I agree it is not something we should be doing, but until cities incorporate areas, there’s no way out,” Edmonds said.
Edmonds says this money for regional parks is needed because everyone uses them.
After cutting $40 million in 2002 and $52 million in 2003, King County’s general fund budget is still facing a shortfall of about $25 million per year in 2004 and 2005, caused by the economic downturn, annexations and incorporations and voter initiatives.
According to the Metropolitan Parks Task Force, King County Parks funding has dropped from $25.5 million in 2002 to $16.4 million for 2003.
Lake Forest Park finance director John Hawley said residents there are already giving $2 million a year to the county, this levy would mean an additional $82,000 a year for six years would go to the county.
“If we want to go back in a year and increase property taxes to deal with our own budget concerns, if people have already approved a 5.5 cent county tax, they’d be less likely to increase taxes for the city, and we don’t get a direct benefit,” Hawley said.
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