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Bainbridge wants to get jump on initiative taxing now
Bainbridge wants to get jump on initiative taxing now
By Todd Westbrook, Sun
staff
Bainbridge officials are trying to head off Initiative 695 by introducing massive
tax hikes now that council members can then phase in over time.
The series of nine measures would make up for revenues lost from lower car
tab fees and would circumvent the necessity of going to the voters for approval
of all tax hikes.
Finance Director Ralph Eels told a special session of the Bainbridge Island
City Council on Thursday that the effect of the nine ordinances, drawn up at
the request of Mayor Dwight Sutton, would be to allow the city to raise up to
$8.5 million in extra revenue.
"There is no intent to (set taxes at that level)," Eels said, "and most of
the ordinances have rollback measures ... if I-695 fails to become law."
Instead, the City Council would in effect offer island citizens a deduction
on that $8.5 million in taxes, raising the sums appropriate to maintain a desired
level of service.
"This allows the City Council to preserve a right it already has, despite (the
passage of) I-695," Eels said.
The measure on the Nov. 2 ballot would set a flat $30 annual fee for vehicle
license tabs, rather than the current 2.2 percent of the vehicle's value.
It also would require public votes on all state and local tax and fee increases.
If the initiative becomes law, the city estimates lost revenue and added costs
at over $1.2 million in 2000, over $1.6 million in 2001 and over $2.1 million
in 2002.
Tax increases proposed by the city to address that shortfall, and due for a
vote by the council next month, include a property tax hike from a proposed
2000 rate of $1.40 per $1,000 assessed valuation to $1.75 per $1,000.
Also under the proposals, the business and occupation tax would double to two-tenths
of 1 percent of gross income, with the current exemption level lowered from
firms that make less than $250,000 to firms that make less than $18,000.
Taxes on commercial parking operations would be raised from 8 percent to 12
percent, and the yearly utility charge per household for storm and surface water
management would be raised from $3 to $20 per month.
New measures would include an admissions tax of 5 percent on theaters and performances
and a 6 percent tax on the profits of cable television and a private water company.
Also going up would be the cost of land-use permits and water and sewer rates.
Reductions in all those hikes would be expected by a future council, if only
because the pre-I-695 revenue projections for the city are under $5 million.
In "strongly recommending" that the council pass the series of measures, Eels
asked: "If I-695 goes forward, how are you going to pay for the services that
the citizens of Bainbridge Island so strongly want?
"Only with these ordinances."
Members of the public will have the opportunity to comment on the proposed
tax changes at an upcoming council meeting.
Published in The Sun: 10/01/1999
