Kent residents would pay higher property taxes and a new annual $20 vehicle license tab fee if the City Council goes along with Mayor Suzette Cooke’s 2017-18 budget proposal.
Cooke presented her proposed two-year budget to the council on Tuesday night. The council will spend the next two months reviewing the budget and possibly making changes with adoption set for Dec. 13.
Cooke wants to use 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.
“We must find a way to take care of what we have,” said Cooke in an effort to make progress on the $60 million maintenance backlog in the park system.
If the council 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 $1.00 per $1,000 assessed valuation in 2011 after voters in 2010 approved the formation of the Kent Fire Department Regional Fire Authority (RFA), which levies a property tax of $1.00 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 approved use of the banked capacity as part of the 2015-16 budget.
The mayor also proposed adoption of a $20 vehicle tab fee to raise an estimated $1.6 million per year for the street operating fund, including $623,000 for a new, extended sidewalk along 132nd Avenue Southeast. State law allows jurisdictions to adopt a vehicle tab fee without voter approval if the annual fee is $40 or less. The city of Des Moines charges its residents $40 per year.
To approve the new fee, the council must form a Transportation Benefit District, which would be governed by the seven-member council. The council rejected a Cooke-proposed budget two years ago to charge a vehicle tab fee.
Cooke submitted to the council a two-year total budget of $581 million and a general fund budget of $189 million. Her general fund budget of $94.3 million in 2017 is a 5.9 percent increase over the 2016 budget of $89.1 million. City staff projects revenue to increase in 2017 from property, sales and utility taxes to help cover the larger budget.
Cooke proposed 14 new positions in 2017, including two police officers. The city has 671 employees, including 202 in the police department.
“Continuing our commitment to the public’s safety, I have funded an additional two police officers, a (police) records specialist and a corrections sergeant in 2017, and another three officers in 2018,” the mayor said.
Cooke also wants to form a new communications department.
“In your council retreats and workshops you frequently have sought ways to improve and diversify our communications with the public,” Cooke said. “It is time we stepped up to addressing yours and the public’s need for timely, relevant information. We have become too big for one person to cover all messaging and public affairs.”
The department would include 10 employees, including a new communications director, a new cultural communications director, a transfer of six Information Technology staff and a shift from the mayor’s office the positions of the community and government affairs manager and the neighborhood program coordinator.
“The new department will help us get with the times in connecting with our diverse and digitally-savvy population,” Cooke said.
Unlike two years ago, Cooke didn’t propose any hikes in the city’s business and occupation tax to help raise revenue for projects beyond street repairs. The tax will bring in an estimated $7.5 million in 2017.
“Council, you and I have had our differences over the restrictive use and rates for the business and occupation tax,” she said. “You can relax. Council President (Bill) Boyce warned me that touching the B&O tax was a non-starter.”
Residents can give the council their opinions about the budget proposal during a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 18 in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 220 Fourth Ave. S.
For more information, go online to KentWA.gov/Budget.
Editor’s Note: This story has been corrected to reflect the proposed transfer of six Information Technology staff to a new communications department.
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