The City Council had its mini-planning session on Saturday, June 27 at the Mercer Island Community and Event Center.

Council discusses fire danger

With drought conditions presenting another degree of danger relating to Fourth of July fireworks, the Council had a discussion about whether or not the city should discourage people from celebrating independence with incendiaries.

Mercer Island is one of the few places in King County to allow consumer fireworks. The sale of fireworks is a fundraiser for several community groups, including the Masonic Lodge, Kiwanis Club and Mercer Island VFW.

The Council directed city staff to talk to the Fire Chief and department and make a recommendation.

If the Council decided to ban the use of fireworks in the future, it would have to wait one year before the ban would go into effect.

City considers tax increase to pay for parks and YFS

The city’s Youth and Family Services (YFS) department is facing a looming deficit in the coming years. The YFS Fund was projected to be $100,000 in the red at the end of 2016, $361,000 at the end of 2017 and $460,000 at the end of 2018, said Finance Director Chip Corder.

Corder presented three options to the Council: cut 50 percent of the program that places mental health counselors in Island schools, get the School District to contribute more toward the cost of the counselors or submit a levy lid lift request to voters in November 2016.

There are projected deficits in the General Fund too: $982,000 at the end of 2017 and a $1,565,000 at the end of 2018. Corder said that the city is limited in the amount of revenue it can bring in by caps on property tax, on which Mercer Island is extremely reliant. It can increase the property tax levy by one percent per year. New construction generates another one percent per year in property tax revenue.

“Recent development activity on the Island is driving the surplus,” Corder said. “I can’t bank on those temporary revenues.”

Three-quarters of the General Fund is “people-driven,” Corder said, meaning that it goes to salaries, wages and benefits.

The city’s 2015 property tax levy also includes $144,960 in banked capacity, which the Council took in addition to the one percent optional increase on Nov. 17, 2014. After the Planning Session, all of that money has been allocated: $56,590 to the LEOFF I retiree long-term care liability, $38,370 to replace equipment, technology and furnishings in the Community and Event Center and the remaining amount to square away the YFS deficit, at least for the next two years.

Next year, the Council and staff will take a hard look at either cutting services, bringing in more revenue or finding creative cost-saving opportunities. Corder posed the idea of forming a Regional Fire Authority (RFA) with the cities of Bellevue and Kirkland, or converting YFS school counselors to School District employees. Both would save the city at least $100,000—not enough to fully address the projected deficits, but a start.

“We can’t avoid this discussion by saying we’ve solved it for 2016,” said Deputy Mayor Dan Grausz.

Councilmembers Debbie Bertlin and Terry Pottmeyer volunteered to lead a “smart government” task force to look at how the city could operate more efficiently, or find ways other cities are saving money.

In January, councilmembers asked about the possibility to do an organizational efficiency audit on one or more city departments, a course of action not recommended by Corder.

“I don’t believe, given how lean we are, that you can wring much out of it,” Corder said.

But Councilmembers said they would be uncomfortable going to voters to ask for more money without some sort of audit or review of city finances.

Another option is to go to the voters in August or November 2016 to form a metropolitan park district with the same boundaries as the city, which wouldn’t save taxpayers any money, but would free up some park funds for the city to use for other purposes.

City schedules review of Comp Plan, impact fees

The City Council will review school impact fees on Aug. 3, following approval from the School Board and a review by the Planning Commission scheduled for July 15.

Impact fees, authorized under the state Growth Management Act (GMA) to ensure that new developments pay for their incremental impact on city infrastructure, have been a hot topic on the Island. The Council will review impact fee reports this summer: for parks on July 20 and transportation on Aug. 3.

There was a question of whether the city could adopt school impact fees before updating its Comprehensive Plan, especially as the last plan from 2005 mentions declining school enrollment and doesn’t reference the latest school district capital facilities plan. The Council will enact the impact fees as an emergency Comprehensive Plan amendment, with the goal to update the plan by the end of the year.

Finances may be available online

Following other cities like Seattle and Redmond, Mercer Island may purchase software to put its budget and spending information online by 2017. The program would cost $7,000 to $9,000 per year, but allow city employees, researchers, “watchdogs” and average citizens to “follow the money” spent by the city.