Future of flood control, junior taxing districts may hinge on cap bills

Published 2:41 pm Friday, March 4, 2011

For years, residents in Snoqualmie’s Riverside Mobile Home Park hustled to pack bags and head to higher ground when high water threatened.

Today, residents and mobile homes are gone, as are the costs and tribulations of the flood-prone park, bought out and demolished in a 2010 King County Flood Control District project. Families moved to safer housing on the government’s dime.

Such a project wouldn’t have happened without funds from the district’s 50 cent property tax levy. Neither would dozens of home elevations performed over the last two years in low-lying parts of historic Snoqualmie.

City Mayor Matt Larson said the 2007 creation of the flood district supercharged the city’s flood control efforts.

“Once the flood district came into existence… our ability to do projects increased ten-fold,” Larson said. “For every dollar Snoqualmie residents paid into that system, far more came back.”

The future of such projects is murky, however, thanks to falling property values in King County. By Washington law, taxes approved without a public vote cannot exceed $5.90 per $1,000 in assessed value. As assessed values fell in the recession, tax rates rose to compensate, hitting the cap in King County tax code areas including parts of Fall City and North Bend. As a junior tax district, the flood district had to pay established districts, including North Bend’s Fire District 38 and Fall City’s Fire District 27, to lower their levy rates or forego its own collection.

The district has to be under the cap across all of King County. That means making deals with not just Valley fire districts, but other taxing authorities in Redmond, Maple Valley, Auburn, East Renton, Skyway and Federal Way. At stake is the flood district’s entire $35 million levy.

“Just one of these codes can put us out of business,” said Kjristine Lund, the flood district’s executive director. “Because we’re a county-wide district, the law requires equal taxation.”

Lund said values are expected to continue to fall in 2012, and the district’s board is opposed to making more payments to offset the cap.

However, two bills now under consideration by the Washington State Legislature may change things. House Bill 1969 and Senate Bill 5638 exempt the flood control levy from the state property tax cap.

The house bill would waive the cap on the flood district levy for six years, sunsetting in 2017. An amendment would limit the waiver for 25 cents, rather than the full 50.

“The other bill is what we call ‘cleaner,'” Lund said. It was drafted by the Department of Revenue, and protects the full 50 cents from the cap with no sunset clause.

Passage of a cap waiver is essential to help the district continue what Lund described as “robust” programs helping property owners in harm’s way.

“We’re doing a lot of elevations and home buyouts, as well as making repairs along the river, to do what we can to control the flooding. We’ve done a lot of farm pads to protect livestock,” she said. “If we’re not able to save the flood district, to save its funding, these are the projects we would lose. We’re able to leverage the funding from the state, feds and FEMA. If we don’t have matching money, that reduces what we can bring.”

Next in line

If the King County Flood District manages to escape the levy cap, other taxing districts remain on the chopping block as property values fall. The next junior districts to feel the pinch include parks, hospital and fire districts.

Last week, Si View Metro Parks Director Travis Stombaugh expressed frustration that the flood district sought an independent solution instead of something more inclusive and creative.

“It would have been awesome if we had all gotten together as junior tax districts” and opened a dialogue, Stombaugh said. “Should all these junior taxing districts be under this $5.90 or a different cap?

If property taxes stay flat, Si View Metro Parks District will have to cut its $1.1 million levy by $250,000.

“It makes us think that next year, we need to go out and protect ourselves,” he said.

Call to action

Stombaugh’s comments came after the city of Snoqualmie sent out an e-mail last week urging citizens to contact their legislators and voice support for the two bills.

Larson, who is a member of the flood district’s advisory board, testified in support of the district to the Washington State House and Senate Ways and Means committees.

“Support from the general public is now needed,” the e-mail release stated. “It is extremely important for legislators to hear from residents and business representatives about support for the Flood Control District.”

The city asked that residents contact legislators before March 7, when the bills leave their respective chambers of origin.

“I’d like to see 100 percent of the homes in harm’s way elevated or bought out,” Larson told the Record. “With the flood district, that’s a realistic and achievable goal.”