City leaders decided it’s time to form a volunteer task force to help figure out how to keep Kent financially sustainable.

People interested in serving on the 15-member Financial Sustainability Task Force can apply to the city by 5 p.m. on Friday, May 15 at KentWA.gov/FSTF.

The City Council on April 21 approved the formation of the group to provide detailed recommendations to the mayor and council about the city’s needs and the community’s priorities as far as what services should be funded and how to pay for them.

“I want to say how important this effort is,” Councilman Dennis Higgins said at the council meeting. “As we alluded to in the discussion about (revenue from) the B&O tax, we’ve made a great deal of progress. And we’ve made tremendous progress on the debt payments from where we were three or four years ago.

“But we’re not there yet. You can see that as you go to our parks, different facilities in the city and the police station. We have work yet to do. We need more ideas not less. I am excited about this task force.”

Mayor Suzette Cooke says the city’s service-delivery model dates back to the 1960s and 70s when the American economy was booming, state sales-tax laws favored warehousing communities like Kent and property tax-limiting initiatives were a couple decades away.

“All three of these factors have changed but the city’s service-delivery model has not – this means there’s a new budget shortfall every year,” Cooke says. “The city’s share of property tax collections – our largest revenue source – is limited to growth of 1 percent per year. Inflation is 3 percent. This means we could have a status quo budget every year, with no new programs, no new police officers, and still be under water. This is where the structural problem lies. We need the community to weigh in solving this challenge.”

Cooke, with consultation by Council President Dana Ralph and two other council members, will pick the task force to include people who will represent the diversity of Kent’s residents and businesses in opinions, cultures and economic status.

The membership could include civic leaders, business owners, property owners, financial experts, residents and youth, Cooke says.

The task force will evaluate services and revenues in Kent compared to other cities.

Other duties include:

• Determining the cost to live and operate a business in Kent

• Assessing the city’s needs and community’s priorities within available revenue

• Determining what the community’s priorities are for elimination of functions and services

• Identifying the community’s priorities for new revenue and preferred sources

The council discussed the idea of forming the task force at a recent retreat and raised the idea last year during budget deliberations. The council will confirm the appointments of committee members in June.

The task force must prepare a draft report by May 1, 2016 for public review and comment, followed by a final report to the mayor and council by June 30, 2016, before it disbands. The group is anticipated to meet once a month with dates and times to be determined by the members.

City’s third new task force

The new group marks the third task force or commission formed by the city in the last six months. The other two are:

• Parks and Recreation Commission

Cooke appointed a 16-member board in November that started to meet in January. It serves as an advisory group to the mayor, council and parks department.

Commissioners help update the city’s open space plan as well as provide guidance on parks and trails planning; priorities for land/facilities acquisitions; development, design and operation of parks programming and facilities; capital improvements planning; regulations and restrictions governing park use; concessions; and recommend contracts and inter-local agreements.

• Independent Salary Commission

The mayor and council appointed a five-member Independent Salary Commission in March to determine later this year whether the mayor and seven council members should get pay raises, pay cuts or keep the same pay. The group has six scheduled meetings starting this week and ending June 11.