Incumbents and write-in candidate win Lower Valley

Published 3:19 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

Up until several weeks ago, it appeared that the only thing the

Carnation City Council candidates needed to do was to be sworn in and take

their seats. That was until write-in Joan Sharp entered the race.

Sharp went head-to-head against long-time Carnation activist

Mary Osterday for position 3. And, despite the odds against write-in

candidates, Sharp won by about 50 votes.

“I had a great support group,” Sharp said of her recent victory.

“John Aronica (campaign manager) was a 30-year employee of the city, and

he knew everyone in town. He worked that person-to-person part of this

thing … so even if they didn’t know me, they knew John and trusted him.”

The entire Carnation City Council was up for election this year

because voters previously approved changing the city’s governance

from a council-mayor to a council-manager form. The other new council

members are Stuart Lisk, Yvonne Funderburg, Don Raybuck and Bob

Patterson. Once in office, the councilors will elect a mayor to serve as the city’s

representative. Though all members have a chance at becoming mayor,

Sharp said she’s not interested in the position this time around.

“There are people who have been on the council (Lisk, Raybuck

and Patterson) and would be a much better representative,” she said.

Also approved by Carnation voters last week was the $102,000

police levy which provides for a full-time officer.

The levy originally failed in September due mainly to a low voter

turnout. This time, the levy barely squeaked by, receiving only a

fraction percent more than the required 60 percent super majority.

In Duvall, voters said they liked the current council composition

and approved Jeane Baldwin and Mark Cole’s bids.

The finance departments at both cities were busy adjusting next

year’s budgets as news of the passing of Initiative 695 spread through the

halls. The initiative stamped out the state’s 2.2-percent vehicle excise tax and

replaced it with a $30 flat rate. In addition, residents would be asked to

vote on future tax or fee increases.

The passing of I-695 will have varying effects on different cities,

with smaller communities like Duvall losing about $350,000 – nearly half of

it is from sales tax equalization – in revenues. The City of Duvall is in the

process of trying to pare down the budget to accommodate the reduced

revenue, said Interim Finance Director John Ringler.

One of the ways the city is looking to compensate for the loss is

by raising water, sewer and garbage rates. But that will only bring minimum

relief, and within the next several weeks, the city will be making more

difficult decisions.

“We have some ideas and estimates, but we haven’t really tied

it down yet,” Ringler said.

The City of Carnation, however, will only lose about $38,000 as a

result of I-695. But because the city is anticipating less construction this

upcoming year, Finance Director Richard Gould expects that Carnation

will face a $70,000 reduction overall.

“It’s about five-percent of our general funds revenue [lost from

I-695], but it’s not as severe as other

cities,” he said. “We want to conserve

during the rest of this year and spend only on salaries and essentials.”

To compensate for the loss from I-695, Carnation also plans to

raise water and garbage rates and trim spending on new equipment and

supplies.

Carnation’s final budget is expected to be prepared by the end

of this week and approved by the council at its next meeting on Nov. 16.