Note: Some of the information on this archival Web page may no longer be current.
Focus - November 1997
HANG ON TOTHOSE AUDIO TAPES
The recently revised State Auditor's Local Government Records Retention Schedule Records Management Manual is now in effect. Among other changes, the new schedule has changed the retention period for all audio tapes, including audio tape recordings used to prepare official meeting minutes.
REFERENDUM 47 APPROVED
Washington voters approved Referendum 47 in the November 4 election with 60% in favor of this statewide tax reduction measure. Referendum 47 will place strict new limitations on the ability of any taxing district with a population of 10,000 or more to raise property tax levys. The new law will also phase-in large increases in assessed valuation of individual properties, which will lead to permanent losses in property tax revenue for taxing districts and shift the tax burden from properties whose value is increasing rapidly to those whose value is growing at a lower rate.
BIENNIAL BUDGETING - IS IT RIGHT FOR YOU?
Earlier this year, the state Legislature authorized biennial budgeting for counties. Cities have had this authority since 1985. Tom Sutberry, MRSC Public Policy/Finance Consultant, reviews some of the advantages and disadvantages of moving to a two-year budget cycle.
FLSA NUTS AND BOLTS
Charles Eberhardt, Attorney, Perkins Coie, gives us a clear and concise outline of overtime pay requirements under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Washington State's Minimum Wage Act, as they apply to municipal employers. Includes a discussion of the "white collar" exemptions, calculation of "hours worked" for nonexempt employees and other rules of significance to public employees.
RECEIVE MRSC WEB SITE UPDATES BY E-MAIL
You can receive a monthly e-mail notifying you of selected updates to MRSC's Web site by subscribing to the mrscweb mailing list (listserv). Simply type: subscribe mrscweb your name in the body of the message, and press "send" (leave the subject line blank). You may have your name removed from the list at any time by following the directions in the welcome message you will receive after subscribing.
Unlike most listservs, mrscweb is not a discussion list to which all subscribers may post messages, but a free subscription to a monthly notice updating you on major changes and additions to the MRSC Web site. If you have questions about this listserv, please contact Terri Sanders, MRSC Information Services Technician, at tsanders@mrsc.org.
NEW PUBLICATION - OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS
If you haven't taken the opportunity already, check out our new publication - The Open Public Meetings Act - How it Applies to Washington Cities, Towns, and Counties (available for viewing in HTML and for downloading in Adobe Acrobat). Order a printed copy with our online publication order form.
NEW PUBLICATION - UTILITY BILLING AND COLLECTION ISSUES
Information on utility billing and collection practices has been available on the Web for several months and has now been issued as MRSC Report No. 40, Utility Billing & Collection Issues. Order a printed copy with our online publication order form.
DID YOU KNOW?
What are forest practices and why do we have forest practices rules? Get the answer to this and many other questions about Washington State's Forest Practices Act. For more information go to our new Forest Practices page
WEB SIGHTINGS
As we search the Web for new local government sites, we're finding a lot of them with great information right here in Washington State:
- The Secretary of State's 1997 Online Voters Guide is of special interest
during this election season.
- Stay informed on current Washington water issues, including surface water
management, watershed planning, NPDES permitting and other water quality issues,
with Confluence,
the quarterly newsletter of the Washington State Department of Ecology's Water
Division.
- The Washington Department of Natural Resources has Forest Practices Illustrated, a guide to selected forest practices rules in Washington state, on their Web site.
CHALLENGED WITH REDEVELOPING CONTAMINATED PROPERTIES?
States, local governments and tribes are invited to apply for National Brownfields Assessment Demonstration pilot monies from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Brownfields are underutilized industrial sites where contamination has complicated property expansion, redevelopment or sale. Project proposals must meet federal guidelines. Deadlines for applications are December 15, 1997, and March 23, 1998. EPA expects to fund 100 projects this fiscal year; each project is funded up to $200,000.
A federal brownfields tax incentive and other federal programs may also assist in brownfields redevelopment. See the EPA Brownfields Homepage for more information.
CHECK OUT HOTBOT... "IT'S A GOOD THING"
Have you checked out Hotbot lately? The new search interface offers pull-down menus that make it easy even for internet novices to do effective Web searching. Hotbot is one of the Web's largest search engines, indexing more than 54 million Web sites. For more on the latest devlopments in Web searching and search engines go to: Search Engine Watch and/or Search Insider.
FEEDBACK
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