The Kent City Council decided against a vehicle license tab fee, delayed hiring a new communications director and approved hiring two more police officers.
The council reached those agreements and other decisions on the 2017-2018 city budget during a Tuesday night workshop. The council’s Operations Committee will vote on the revised, proposed budget on Dec. 6 and the full, seven-member council will consider the budget on Dec. 13.
As in past years, the council turned down Mayor Suzette Cooke’s proposal to charge vehicle owners a $20 tab fee to raise about $1.6 million per year. The council will fill that budget gap by keeping more sales tax revenue in the general fund rather than the capital resources fund (for facilities, parks, streets).
Council members delayed Cooke’s proposal to form a new communications department, including the hiring of a communications director. They agreed to fund the new position in 2018 at an estimated cost of $180,000 per year.
“We will have a new mayor (in 2018) and that’s something the new mayor should have a chance to look at,” Council President Bill Boyce said about the delay.
Cooke decided against running for a fourth, four-year term next year. Her third term expires at the end of next year. So far, council members Jim Berrios and Dana Ralph have announced plans to run for mayor.
The council agreed with the mayor to hire a communications coordinator in 2017 at a cost of about $120,000 per year. Cooke had proposed that position to be called a cultural communications director in an effort to better reach the diverse Kent population. But the council said the position should include a wider range of duties and changed the job title. The council asked city staff to come up with specific duties for both communications positions.
“There is no question about the fact that we need to improve what we do in terms of communications as a city,” Berrios said. “I’m talking about all departments – police, parks, public works. We have a tremendous amount of missed opportunities when it comes to communicating with the public and getting support and trust from the public. … I’d like to see more of a plan in that respect.”
The council chose to hire one additional police officer in 2017 and 2018 on top of the mayor’s proposal for two new officers next year and three in 2018. Council members reached that decision after Police Chief Ken Thomas revealed last month that the department spends about $1.5 million per year in overtime, most of it on patrol staff.
“One of my concerns is that we have that much overtime and the need for that much overtime,” Ralph said. “It highlights the deficiencies in staffing at the police department. … I’m wondering if it isn’t a worthwhile conversation to take $214,000 out of the proposed overtime budget and create an additional two FTEs (full-time employees) to help long-term staffing with the complete understanding it’s not going to help the overtime numbers on an immediate basis, but we are looking at ramping up the number of officers we have available.”
The rest of the council went along with Ralph’s proposal. Thomas told the council he has 150 officers but needs about 160-165 to provide a higher level of service. The proposed seven additional officers in the next two years would boost staff to 157.
The council agreed with Cooke’s proposal to raise property taxes by using the city’s banked property tax capacity to raise $2 million each year to fund parks capital and major maintenance projects, including renovations at Lake Fenwick Park, West Fenwick Park and Kent Memorial Park.
If the council in December approves the property tax jump, the owner of a $420,000 house would see a tax jump of $53 in 2017, according to city documents. The owner of a $280,000 home would see a $35 hike.
Kent has about $6 million in banked capacity because the city reduced its property tax levy by $1 per $1,000 assessed valuation in 2011 after voters in 2010 approved the formation of the Kent Regional Fire Authority (RFA), which levies a property tax of $1 per $1,000 assessed valuation.
The use of banked capacity allows the city to raise property taxes above the 1 percent annual state cap imposed by Initiative 747 approved by voters in 2001. The council also approved use of the banked capacity as part of the 2015-16 budget.
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