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Proponents
By Sam Shirley & Craig Violante
Roads
The feasibility study assumed that major road improvements and resurfacing would come out of the street fund. A substantial surplus was projected in the Street Fund over time.
Road Projects: King County has identified two priority street projects in the Fairwood area: (1) provide a signal at Petrovitsky and 162nd Place SE; and (2) road reconstruction on Petrovitsky west of 140th.
Pavement Conditions: King County identified 57 miles of streets in the proposed city that will need resurfacing based on their pavement condition. The feasibility study assumed the new city would resurface 5% of its streets each year - a common practice of many cities. This would be a major improvement from current King County schedule, resulting in better and safer road surfaces. The projected Street Fund surplus could be used, in part, to speed up the resurfacing program.
Public Safety (police)
The feasibility study assumed that a City of Fairwood would contract with the King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) for police services. Most cities that have incorporated in the last 20 years have used this highly cost-effective model.
The city decides staffing levels and has access to special units (such as SWAT, K9, detectives) as needed. Officers wear uniforms of the city they serve, and police vehicles carry the city’s name. The police chief works with the City Manager and Fire Chief to plan public safety services and develop an emergency plan.
Improved Service (Double the police patrol)
The feasibility study assumed public safety costs similar to Maple Valley. Maple Valley has a relatively low crime rate, along with low public safety costs, but has about 2 times the officer staffing than we now have in Fairwood. The study budgeted expenditures that would more than double our current level of police staffing.
King County budget woes have meant the Sheriff’s Office has endured budget cuts that contracting cities have not experienced. With incorporation, our community will not be at the mercy of county budget cutters.
Maple Valley is a good comparable city for the proposed City of Fairwood regarding police services. In 2008, Maple Valley’s cost was $107 per capita. For reference, in 2008 Renton’s was $236 per capita, and Maple Valley’s crime rate is only 25% of Renton’s. Different types of cities have different needs for police services. A city with lots of retail and traffic (like Renton) needs more police than a quieter, residential city (like Fairwood).
Renton police services are deployed where more crime takes place, such as their downtown and transit areas, so response times outside the downtown core would not likely be as fast. If Fairwood annexed to Renton, our tax dollars would most likely help pay for Renton's downtown policing, and we would not likely experience fast response times to our residents and businesses.
Fire and Emergency Services
Currently, the area of the proposed city is served by Fire Districts 40 and 37. With incorporation, fire and life safety services would continue to be provided as they are now. Taxpayers would continue to pay the same taxes to their local fire district.
Benefit of local control: Fire District 40 sets its staffing levels to comply with national standards. The fire engine at the Fairwood station is staffed with 4 fire fighters. According to OSHA safety rules - supported by the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF), 4 fire fighters must be present to fight building fires from the inside. Two fire fighters must remain outside, while two may go inside. With smaller crews, fire fighters must wait for additional help before going inside.
Disadvantages of Annexation to Renton:
- Renton staffs their fire engines with only 3 fire fighters.
- Renton’s funding constraints have led to staffing reductions in Benson Hill.
- If Fairwood were annexed to Renton:
- The engine company at the Fairwood station could be reduced from 4 to 3 fire fighters.
- The aid car located at the Fairwood station would likely be moved to the Benson station and the free hospital aid car transports offered by Fire District 40 would probably end as Renton is currently exploring charging for such transports. The aid car coming from the Benson station could provide a slower response time to Fairwood residents which could put lives in jeopardy!
Your YES vote on Proposition 1 will fund new road projects, improve pace of road resurfacing, at least double current levels for police services, maintain current levels for fire & emergency services and establish or retain local decision making over these critical service areas.
Writers' Bios:
Sam Shirley: Sam is a 1982 graduate of Evergreen High School in White Center. He served in the US Army Military Police from 1985 to 1987 and began his career in the King County Sheriff's Office in 1988. He has been serving in Fairwood for 21 years, the last 10 as the Fairwood Storefront Deputy. Sam and his wife have lived in Fairwood for 10 years and own and operate a small business in the Fairwood Square shopping center. They have 3 children, two are still at home and attend local schools, and their oldest is currently serving in the US Army.
Craig Violante: Craig Violante has lived in the greater Fairwood area for 25 years. He has been a Fire District 40 Commissioner for eight years and was previously a volunteer EMT with the district for six years. Professionally, Craig is the Chief Financial Officer for the King County Housing Authority and was previously Finance Manager for the City of Auburn.
REBUTTAL
Once again the opposition (or perhaps we should say Bryce, as it appears to be a solo operation), continues to find any way to distort what the BRB’s feasibility study has to say about road funds. The opposition’s obsession with REET numbers doesn’t hold true against the scrutiny of the expert consultants who conducted the study. The experts accounted for the opposition’s claims about faulty REET numbers, did thorough research, and determined that the opposition is simply wrong. The road fund for Fairwood would show a surplus of $1.5 million in 2010 alone – based on real data. You can believe expert analysis or Bryce’s interpretations.
Let’s be perfectly clear about the firefighters supposedly against incorporation: they are employees of the City of Renton, being used by Renton and their IAFF Local 864 Union. Is it surprising that they oppose incorporation? Of course not! The IAFF is helping Renton to grab Fairwood’s tax surplus so that they won’t lose their jobs due to Renton’s growing budget deficit.
As for police coverage, Bryce’s numbers don’t reflect the reality of local needs. For example, Renton’s 1.56 police officers per 1000 people are required due to more retail. Yet even with more police, Renton has a much higher crime rate than Maple Valley. The real comparison comes with the actual costs – not staffing levels. In 2009, Renton’s per-capita cost for police protection is $260 – compared to Maple Valley’s $111. So in Renton, you’re paying far more for police protection and yet you experience a much higher crime rate. According to the King County Sheriff, the average cost of contract cities is HALF that of non-contract cities and the crime rate is 13% LESS on average. There is the issue of local requirements of police services, which opponents fail to factor into their analysis.
Fairwood Incorporation Position Statements
Post Five: Roads, Safety & Emergency Services
NOTE: Rebuttals for each week's position statement will be posted the week following the original post. Find rebuttals following each corresponding position statement.
October 16, 2009
Opponents
By Bryce Nelson
Roads
Fairwood’s road construction would be paid for by its capital budget – a budget that derives most of its revenues from the construction and sale of new and existing homes. Real Estate Excise Taxes (REET) and Transportation Impact Fees provide the bulk of revenues for road construction and maintenance, and these taxes are largely derived from the construction and sale of 174-190 new homes per year. The incorporation feasibility study assumes that Fairwood will have about $850,000 in impact fees and $1.3 million in REET revenues – assumptions that simply aren’t based in reality.
That $850,000 comes entirely from the sale of new homes. There are no new homes being built and sold in Fairwood right now – so that $850,000 isn’t going to be there. King County has seen a 66% decline in REET revenues since 2007 – putting a more accurate assessment of Fairwood’s REET revenues at $390,000. Take a look at p.110 of the feasibility study – buried in an appendix is the actual amount of REET revenue generated by Fairwood in 2008. The number? $480,000. Do you think that revenues from new home sales in 2010 are going to be triple what they actually were in 2008?
It’s obvious that revenue assumptions are way too high. Even if there was enough money, it wouldn’t buy much. Proponents assume that this $2 million or so a year will pay to repave a little more than 50 lane miles of the worst roads in Fairwood – but that it will take 20 years to do it. That means that the roads that are in the worst condition right now won’t get fixed completely until 2030 – and we’ll be able to afford nothing else until then. If you want your streets paved, Fairwood wouldn’t be able to afford it.
Public Safety
Fire
Fire services in the proposed incorporation area are presently provided by Fire Districts 40 and 37. The firefighters that serve most of Fairwood from Station 17 on Petrovitsky Road are members of IAFF Local 864, and they oppose incorporation. You’ve probably seen their signs at busy intersections in Fairwood. Your firefighters wouldn’t endorse a position that jeopardizes their safety and the safety of the public. Voting no is the only way to guarantee that fire services will continue to be provided by Fire Districts 40 and 37. A no vote supports your local firefighters, and ensures that we’ll continue to get the same high level of fire services we now receive.
Criminal Justice
Incorporation proponents assume that we’ll contract for criminal justice services, and we’ll pay the King County Sheriff’s Department to provide the same level of police service that it does for Maple Valley. Sounds good – until you dig into the details, and learn that would give us some of the lowest law enforcement staffing levels in the county. By incorporating, we’d pay more and get less than other cities, giving us fewer cops on the street, and less space to put criminals in jail when they’re arrested.
Maple Valley’s per capita police staffing is .63 officers per 1000 population. That’s lower than Renton (1.56), Kent (1.49), Covington (.98), and even Newcastle (.89). What does that mean? By incorporating, we vote to have the lowest law enforcement staffing levels of any nearby city, while paying higher taxes. Lower service levels with higher taxes – that’s Fairwood in a nutshell.
Contracting with King County for police services continues to leave us at the mercy of the King County Council. Fairwood wouldn’t be able to afford to provide specialized services like Detectives, K9, and SWAT – we’d pay King County. As King County’s budget troubles continued, when they made cuts to these specialized units, Fairwood would feel the impact, and there would be nothing we could do about it. Don’t vote to incorporate a city that will leave us stuck with the same problems we have now.
We’d also have to contract for jail and prosecution services. King County is no longer contracting for these services – so we’d have to find somebody else to hold our criminals accountable and house them in jail. Who? And where? Incorporation proponents have budgeted for one jail bed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year – which means we’d be able to keep one misdemeanor offender in jail. That’s just not good enough.
Vote against no new roads. Support your local firefighters. Vote against higher taxes for lower levels of service. Vote against incorporation. www.govoteno.org
Writer's Bio:
Bryce Nelson has lived in the Seattle area since '89. He grew up in Redmond and attended Pacific Lutheran University for undergrad and Seattle University for law school. He's been a prosecutor with Pierce County for the last 6 1/2 years and is currently assigned to the Special Assault Unit prosecuting sex and domestic violence crimes. His wife is a teacher at Nelsen Middle School in Renton, and they live in Woodside with their 16 month-old daughter, who he says "keeps us busy and always makes sure the inside of our house looks like a toy store exploded!"
REBUTTAL
Roads
Without a neighborhood the size of Woodside built every 2 ½ years, there is not enough revenue to provide even the minimal road construction planned by incorporation proponents over the next 20 years. The real estate market has tanked – and with it, so have REET revenues and transportation impact fees. Fairwood would be unable to pay for needed road maintenance and construction costs from day one.
Criminal Justice
Should we annex to Renton, they plan on hiring 26 police officers to serve the Fairwood area. At Maple Valley’s staffing rates, Fairwood would only be able to afford 15 officers at most – and that’s assuming that the city will have sufficient tax revenue, which is unlikely. I’m not the best mathematician – it’s why I went to law school – but 26 officers is significantly more than 15, which will provide Fairwood with a much higher level of service. Renton also has dedicated traffic and other specialized units, which Fairwood wouldn’t have.
Fire
The State legislature passed a new law that took effect on 7/26/09 that requires a city to maintain existing response times in an annexed area. What’s that mean in Fairwood? Renton can’t move the aid car from Station 17, because it will affect response times. On October 20th, FD 40 will hold a special meeting to determine whether taxes should be increased to maintain existing staffing, since they are facing a property tax shortfall of approximately 20%. Renton opted not to increase taxes in the face of the worst economy in decades, instead temporarily reducing staffing to levels seen in other nearby departments, including Fire District 37/Kent, which proponents assume will serve part of Fairwood. If FD 40 doesn’t have sufficient revenues to maintain existing services without a tax increase, neither will Fairwood.
Vote against incorporation.