Bonney Lake Metropolitan Park District: One More Look

The sometimes hotly debated issue over whether or not a metropolitan park district - with its own taxing authority - should be created to provided a dedicated stream of revenue for Bonney Lake city parks, trails and recreation is going strong within Patch's Local Voices community where bloggers Fred Jacobsen and Grant Sulham have been writting in support and opposition, respectively, of the proposal.

Both sides have also set up Facebook pages in support of their positions:

• Families for a Responsible Bonney Lake
• Bonney Lake Metropolitan Park District

With ballots headed into voters' mailboxes beginning today, Patch contacted Gary Leaf, the city's facilities and special projects manager to run through some of the statements and claims being presented on both sides to get a clearer idea where things stand.

PLANNING

The city of Bonney Lake in 2011 updated its Parks Plan with input from more than 500 residents via a community survey. Those partipants expressed the four great needs in the community were . City leaders spent the summer of 2012 engaging with citizens to determine a priority and funding options for parks implementations. Mayor Neil Johnson also presented and continued to modify his proposal for a comprehensive parks plan.

Is there a plan? If voters approve the metropolitan park district, there is not a set list of project priorities for work to begin straight away, Leaf said. "In this case, we don't have one specific project of two specific projects listed. What we have is a Parks Plan that identifies major needs. As I understand it, the things that would go first would be things like portions of the Fennel Creek Trail and new or refurbished ball fields. We wouldn't start with a YMCA or community center."

Why not start with the community center? Such a recreational facility is likely still a ways down the line even with an MPD, he said. Leaf estimates that in order to cover the cost of that kind of new construction (between $10 million and $15 million), the MPD would need to go back to voters and ask for a bond. The reason being that at the estimated 44 cents/$1,000 levy, the MPD would be able to collect about $750,000 per year. That is not enough for a new recreational facility, he said.

TAXES

The statutory limit a metropolitan park district can levy is 75 cents/$1,000 assessed value. In the city of Bonney Lake, residents currently pay property taxes to a variety of taxing entities including the city itself, Pierce County, the Sumner School District, East Pierce Fire & Rescue and the Pierce County Library System. Each entity that collects property taxes is subject to statutory limits including a maximum aggregate rate of $5.90 per $1,000 AV. An MPD is 'junior' to the entities listed above. Because of this, city material related to the MPD indicates if passed, the district would likely be limited to levying 44 cents/$1,000 AV based on current property valuations. An average homeowner would consequently be expecting to see an increase in their taxes by $95 each year (click here to calculate your potential tax impact).

What's stopping the MPD from raising taxes to the maximum limit? There wouldn't appear to be a reason why an MPD couldn't subsequently raise the tax rate to the maximum 75 cents/$1,000 AV, but there are other factors like the district hierarchy that would make that happening any time soon highly unlikely. Potentially it could be possible perhaps 30 years down the line, Leaf said. First, because an MPD is junior to the other taxing entities, should those entities opt to levy their full amounts and the aggregate max is reached, the MPD cannot go higher. Further, taxing districts are limited to a 1 percent tax increase annually.

ADMINISTRATION

The current Bonney Lake City Council would serve a dual role as the board that oversees the MPD. The MPD would meet regularly - likely once or twice a month - to attend to business and they would follow standard meeting protocols to be open to the public, on the record and open to public testimony.

The decision to use existing leaders and staff was made in order to keep start-up costs for getting an MPD up and running low, said Leaf. Existing administrative staff would be used in lieu of installing a parks director, new staff and an attorney. Further, no one is receiving extra compensation for the extra work involved, he said.

If a new board of commissioners were elected to serve, they would be entitled to receive compensation - up to $33,600 for five commissioners, according to the city. This change couldn't happen without a vote of the public, Leaf said.

With the crossing over of resources between two taxing districts, what's stopping tax revenue from being passed in between as well? It's against the law.

So there's no crossover? An MPD cannot impose a park fee but the city could collect impact fees on its behalf. Also, should an MPD pursue a bond, the city could apply its good credit rating, Leaf said.

But the city would avoid the perception of a 'double tax' by reducing proportionately from its budget what it would no longer need to expend on parks, right? That remains to be seen. According to Leaf, the city could reduce its funding for parks if the MPD were approved but there has not been discussion indicating this desire. At present, the city spends about $300,000 a year in parks, he said.

That money comes from park impact fees and some real estate transfer tax, but the bulk of those funds have been earmarked to pay off an existing debt service for a property that was purchased in 2005, Leaf said. The city collects about $200,000 a year in park impact fees, which can only be used for capital projects, that go toward small capital projects such as the dike expansion at Allan Yorke Park.

Aside from cost, are there any other benefits to having the existing Council oversee the MPD rather than a new body of commissioners? Depends on your perspective. The city in its presentation on the creation of an MPD dated February 2012 indicates an MPD has the right to eminent domain. Because the city of Bonney Lake already has that same right, Leaf said, eminent domain is a non-issue. If there were a separate governing body, however, that would create an additional party and potential source of conflict if eminent domain rights were asserted.

WHY THIS, WHY NOW

During last year's Parks Summit, funding options also included bonds and special levies. Why is the MPD being presented? Bonds are bound with a finite purpose and a finite amount of money and are good solutions for projects with an end, such as new construction of a building, Leaf said. What bonds don't cover, however, are ongoing operating and maintenance expenses. "You can't use a bond for operations and maintenance," he said. "The State Auditor would slap your hands if you tried to do that." Special levies are typically used when revenues can't keep up with ongoing maintenance expenses.

Why are voters deciding this in April as opposed to the November election? While the standard cost to put an item to a special election was about $25,000, Leaf said the city would still have to pay to do the same in November though more jurisdictions would share the ballot cost in the fall. "The reason we did that is because when the election has fewer issues on the ballot there is more public focus on the issue," he said. "In November, the issue would tend to be glossed over. We did consider waiting until next year instead, but there was concern that the parks and open space plan, which serves as the basis for the capital needs in parks, would be more than two years old if we waited another year. It was completed in 2011. We usually update the plan every 5-6 years."

WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN NEXT

What if the MPD fails? The city would likely stay with its status quo of collecting roughly $200,000 in impact fees and identifying grants where possible to support small projects, Leaf said. It would still endeavor to adhere to the parks plan, but "it's going to move at a snail's pace. It'll take a long, long time in order to make a dent in the plan."

And if it passes? Planning and scoping would happen almost immediately, he said, though the property tax revenue wouldn't start coming in until about one year after the vote. If the board (Council) can scope out a few small projects to start, it could issue a small bond between $3 million to 4 million ahead of tax revenues coming in but manageable enough that the levy money could comfortably support the bond financing. "Most likely funding would be partly bonds and partly pay-as-you-go," Leaf said.

Down the line, because the MPD provides that revenue foundation, it could pursue more parks grants that often require at least a 50 percent match, Leaf said. "That's a huge advantage of the MPD because it would create a dedicated funding source for matching funds for grants. It opens up some doors," he said.

And what if citizens no longer want or need the MPD some time in the undetermined future? It can be dissolved by a majority of voters in a special election. According to RCW 35.61.310:

A board of commissioners of a metropolitan park district may, upon a majority vote of all its members, dissolve any metropolitan park district, prorate the liabilities thereof, and turn over to the city and/or county so much of the district as is respectively located therein, when:

     (1) Such city and/or county, through its governing officials, agrees to, and petitions for, such dissolution and the assumption of such assets and liabilities, or;

     (2) Ten percent of the voters of such city and/or county who voted at the last general election petition the governing officials for such a vote.

More from Pierce County:

• To view voter pamphlet information for Proposition No. 1, City of Bonney Lake, click here.
• For information about ballot drop boxes and voting centers, visit Pierce County Elections.