After uncertain future, flood control district passes 2011 budget
November 23, 2010
By Dan Catchpole
NEW — 10:45 a.m. Nov. 23, 2010
With weather forecasters predicting a wet winter, the King County Flood Control District Board of Supervisors approved a 2011 budget totaling $37.25 million. The board also agreed to pay $30 million over six years to replacing Seattle’s Alaskan Way seawall.
Just a couple weeks ago, it wasn’t clear if the district would have any money. It was in danger of losing its taxing ability because of a state cap on property taxes that puts the burden on newer taxing districts. Created in 2007, the flood control district would have been among the first to be out in the cold.
However, the district’s Executive Director Kjris Lund negotiated agreements with eight King County fire districts to lower their tax levies, allowing the flood control district to collect its levy. The district will pay the fire districts the difference.
The agreements’ cost is expected to be $3.5 million. It had been estimated to cost between $5.5 million and $8.5 million.
The district will continue work on 25 projects in 2011. Since its inception, the flood control district has paid for more than 50 projects on the Snoqualmie, Tolt and Green rivers, among others. It also pays for the Flood Warning Center, which coordinates the county’s response.
Helping pay for replacing Seattle’s seawall was a political compromise to ensure support from King County’s urban areas, which dominate the flood district’s board. Members of Metropolitan King County Council make up the district’s board.
“The board of commissioners could go to Olympia and have the flood district done away with. They have the political clout to do that,” County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert said.
Beginning in 2011, the district will pay $4.25 million for the seawall replacement.
“In order to keep Seattle as a partner we need to help with the seawall,” Lambert said.
With the King County Assessor’s Office saying the property taxes problem will likely continue for several years, Lund has said she will ask the state Legislature in 2011 to modify the state cap on property taxes.
Lambert called it her “overwhelming concern.”
Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.
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