She had stopped by to swear in the mayor and council members following the November election. Lambert took the opportunity to give the state of the county to the City Council.

“King County is working really hard at being a government you can be proud of,” Lambert said. “It is a much different day to be working at King County than the previous years have been.”

Today, the county is focused on becoming more efficient by adopting practices used by Boeing and Toyota, she said.

Lambert represents District 3, which includes Snoqualmie Valley.

Despite the efficiencies, the County Council is planning on having to cut $20 million from the budget for 2013, Lambert said.

The county has already cut more than $200 million in the past four years from its general fund.

“We are looking at efficiencies in all of our departments. And again, where we can make cuts that are strategic,” she said.

The county has had to slash its budget for roadwork, as well, as tax revenues have fallen dramatically due to annexations.

As part of those cuts, snow removal had been eliminated for the lowest priority roads, which include many in Snoqualmie Valley.

But that money has been restored, and snow removal will happen on the Valley’s more remote county roads, Lambert said.

The councilwoman shared some personal news, as well. She has been appointed to a national task force on cyber crime and is the new co-chair of the state legislative steering committee for the Washington Association of Counties.

Clear weather during the night of Dec. 28 and the following morning allowed the water level to subside. The county closed its warning center by 9 a.m. Dec. 29.

Under a plan proposed by County Executive Dow Constantine, builders could pay a fee, rather than completing projects in a process called mitigation to compensate for damaged or destroyed wetlands.

The law requires builders to avoid and minimize impacts to wetlands and other sensitive areas as much as possible. Mitigation is required if damage is unavoidable.

The proposal calls for creating “mitigation credits” for builders to purchase to meet obligations for damage to wetlands. The county could then use the payments for “mitigation credits” to design, construct and maintain watershed restoration projects.

Constantine sent the proposal to the County Council for consideration Oct. 27.

“With this proposal, we couple greater predictability for builders to greater certainty that we will successfully protect and restore streams and wetlands,” he said in a statement. “This approach affirms King County’s commitment to innovation and collaboration with regulatory agencies, the environmental community and the development community.”

Constantine said the program could lead to a framework for the private sector to drive environmental protection through voluntary measures.

“By pooling mitigation payments, King County can build larger restoration projects with greater benefits to the environmental health of Puget Sound’s watersheds,” he said. “And lands where projects occur will be permanently protected as open space, ensuring a legacy of a healthy environment for future generations.”

The proposal received early support from builders, including homebuilder Quadrant Homes and the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties. The option to purchase “mitigation credits” rather than complete restoration projects could streamline a time-consuming part of the county permitting process.

“This proposal offers predictable costs and schedules for the development community to meet requirements that protect our natural environment,” Bonnie Geers, vice president of public affairs for Quadrant Homes, said in a statement.

People for Puget Sound, a nonprofit environmental group, also backed the proposal.

“While the first preference is for projects to do no harm and then to mitigate onsite, we are pleased that King County has proposed this innovative and forward-thinking plan which will address losses of storm water infiltration,” Executive Director Tom Bancroft said in a statement.

Warren Kagarise: 392-6434, ext. 234, or wkagarise@isspress.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

One of the vacancies is for the board’s District 2, which covers Snoqualmie Valley. Noxious weeds are invasive plants that threaten local habitats by displacing native vegetation. They are an ongoing threat to Snoqualmie River’s ecosystem, but they are found everywhere in King County.

The noxious weed program’s mission is to provide benefits to the environment, recreation, public health and economic resources of King County by preventing and minimizing harmful impacts of noxious weeds, according to a news release from King County.

The Noxious Weed Control Program relies on prevention, education and providing technical assistance for fighting the invasive species.

Residents can get an application packet or learn more by calling 206-296-0290 or emailing noxious.weeds@kingcounty.gov. Applications are due by Dec. 12.

Information on the program is available online at www.kingcounty.gov/weeds.

The change would have left the Snoqualmie Valley School District and six other school districts unable to use 15 properties worth about $12 million.

The county’s Growth Management Planning Council appointed a task force to evaluate the issue at its Sept. 27 meeting.

The School Siting Task Force consists of officials from school districts, cities, public health and the county. It will review rural properties currently owned by school districts, and recommend the best location for schools considering the interests of students, taxpayers and the state Growth Management Act.

The task force will report its findings to the council and King County Executive Dow Constantine in February 2012.

The group’s formation stemmed from a compromise reached by King County, Seattle, Bellevue and the Suburban Cities Association to further explore the issue.

The policy change is backed by anti-sprawl advocates who say that it would bring county codes inline with existing state law.

School officials and the Suburban Cities Association pushed for properties already owned by districts to be grandfathered in.

The site Snoqualmie Valley district officials are concerned about is next to Twin Falls Middle School and is earmarked for an elementary school in 15 to 20 years. The district paid $675,000 for 40 acres in 1998, half of which it used for the middle school.

For the first time since 2009, King County’s budget proposal has no cuts in it. Efficiencies and cost savings are to thank, County Executive Dow Constantine said when he presented his 2012 budget proposal to the County Council on Sept. 26.

“My proposed budget is balanced, with no further cuts to services in the General Fund, by working with employees to make this government more efficient,” Constantine said. “Surrounded everywhere by seas of red ink, we have made King County an island of relative stability.”

Constantine’s budget is $5.3 billion, with $648 million in the General Fund.

A year ago, King County had projected it would have a $20 million shortfall in next year’s budget.

But with cost-cutting and improved operations, “that deficit has been more than wiped out,” Constantine said.

The largest savings came from a projected $61 million in savings over the next two years to the county’s employee health care costs. That includes $38 million in 2012.

Constantine credited the health care cost savings to the county’s Healthy Incentives program.

“Clearly, our employees’ health and the county’s fiscal health go hand in hand,” he said.

The cost reductions saved jobs in his proposed budget for sheriff’s deputies, deputy prosecutors and public health nurses.

County employees suggested efficiencies and cost-saving measures that are expected to save the county $32 million next year, he said.

These efficiencies include consolidating computer servers for all departments into a single data center, making better use of office space and getting rid of 54 unnecessary county vehicles.

To save the county money in the future, Constantine’s budget puts $2.7 million into its rainy day fund. That would push the fund above the 6 percent level needed for the county to keep its AAA bond rating.

He also proposed setting aside $9.1 million in other reserves to buffer against uncertainty in future sales tax revenues.

Constantine also proposed creating a one-time fund of $1 million to award grants under $25,000 to nonprofit groups providing human services. Under his proposal, the grants could be used for capital improvement, technology or capacity building.

The proposed budget includes spending on collaboration with The Boeing Co. and Group Health to redesign obsolete and cumbersome business practices.

The partnership has already turned renewing license tabs by mail from a three-week process into one that takes five or fewer days.

Constantine’s budget also calls for piloting a product-based budget in six agencies that is meant to make it more apparent to the public what an agency produces and what it gets for its money.

Product-based budgeting looks at the specific services an agency provides as products that can be measured as, for example, the quality, quantity and the cost per unit of a trip on an Access van, the issuance of a marriage license or building permit or the response to a 9-1-1 call.

During his presentation, Constantine said he wants all of King County government to move to product-based budgeting within three years.

State needs to help save roads and transit

But cost savings from finding efficiencies cannot save public transit or county roads, Constantine said.

Metro Transit, which depends in large part on declining sales tax revenue, has slashed its operating budget in recent years. But the County Council still had to pass the two-year Congestion Reduction Charge in August to prevent a 17 percent cut in service.

“Long-term reform of transit financing still resides with the state Legislature,” he said.

The county doesn’t have enough money to pay for keeping up its roads and bridges, including many in the Snoqualmie Valley. The county’s Road Services Division had to lay off 81 workers this year.

Constantine included triaging road maintenance work to save money in his 2012 budget proposal.

“The success of urban annexations has left only 250,000 residents of the unincorporated areas paying for 1,600 miles of county roads used by 2 million of us,” Constantine said. “It’s a system that hasn’t been revisited in 25 years, and it’s no longer adequate or fair.”

He called on the a statewide transportation task force convened by Gov. Chris Gregoire to “create a statewide solution for deteriorating roads in rural areas, as well for transit needs in urban areas.”

Deputy Executive Fred Jarrett represents King County on the task force.

Constantine said he expects the state, which is facing a projected $1.4 billion budget shortfall, will cut money for public health and human services in the county.

“We don’t know where these cuts may come, so I have not anticipated them in my budget. But we do know they could be devastating for our neediest residents,” he said.

His budget proposal also asks the County Council to approve a supplemental appropriation to fund an effort to persuade Boeing to build its overhauled 737 jet planes in King County.

The effort includes continued cleanup of the Duwamish River and contaminated properties that could, with redevelopment and reinvestment, support manufacturing and light industrial jobs.

King County Council plans to hold public hearings on the budget and is set to adopt a final budget Nov. 21.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

The proposed map keeps the upper Snoqualmie Valley together in District 3 while rebalancing the county’s population between its nine districts.

Click to enlarge

Public hearing King County Courthouse 6:30-8:30 p.m. Nov. 1 Council Chambers, 10th Floor 516 Third Ave., Seattle

District 3 is currently the most populous of the districts. Several earlier proposals had shifted some neighborhoods near North Bend into District 9 to the south.

That would have been a mistake, North Bend city officials said at the time.

“They identify with us,” Mayor Ken Hearing said.

North Bend officials feared that if the areas were moved to District 9, their residents would become an afterthought for its representative, Reagan Dunn, because the vast majority of his constituents live to the southeast.

King County Districting Committee members unanimously agreed Sept. 19 to release a final proposal for public comment and review. A plan must be adopted by Jan. 15 for the 2012 election.

The King County Charter says districts should be “with compact and contiguous territory, composed of economic and geographic units, and approximately equal in population.” Population data cannot be used to favor or disadvantage any racial group or political party.

The result is fair and balanced across the county, said Council-woman Kathy Lambert, who represents District 3.

The final proposal does change District 3. If the plan is approved, Lambert will no longer represent any part of Kirkland, Woodinville or Bellevue. At least some portion of each city is currently in her district.

“I knew it had to happen. I’m sorry to see those cities go,” Lambert said. “It’s like losing a child to college: You know it’s coming, but you’re sorry when it does.”

Under the final plan, she will continue to represent Snoqualmie, North Bend, Carnation, Duvall, part of Redmond, Sammamish, Issaquah and Skykomish.

When drawing district borders, committee members don’t want to create any orphan areas, said Simon Farretta, the committee’s lead staff member.

Residents can share their thoughts on the proposal at a Nov. 1 public hearing in Seattle.

The five-person redistricting committee gathered input at a series of public meetings before releasing its latest proposal. The next hearing is the last step before the committee acts on the proposed map.

“Public testimony raised new ideas and helped us better understand communities of interest,” committee Chairman Terrence Carroll, a retired King County Superior Court judge, said in a statement. “Public input helped members come together around common principles and reach unanimous agreement on a proposed plan three months ahead of schedule.”

The County Council appointed the committee in January.

On the Web
See a map of the King County Districting Committee redistricting proposal at www.snovalleystar.com/tag/redistricting.

City Council members asked for more detailed analysis of the expected costs of annexation, and opponents criticized the study as incomplete.

The City Council is still considering a pre-annexation agreement between the city, DirtFish Rally School and the site’s owners: the Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Development Co. and Snoqualmie Mill Ventures. The owner of Snoqualmie Mill Ventures, Steve Rimmer, also owns DirtFish.

The agreement outlines conditions for annexation and expectations for the city and companies after annexation. It is the key to the annexation process, according to Snoqualmie City Attorney Pat Anderson.

Questions from Council members focused mostly on the potential maintenance costs of Reinig Road, Mill Pond Road and Meadowbrook Bridge.

Maintaining the two roads and bridge could cost Snoqualmie more than $25,000 a year according to the city’s study.

“I’m not interested in annexing Reinig Road. I’m not interested in annexing Meadowbrook Bridge,” Councilman Charlie Peterson said.

City officials tried to leave Reinig Road and Meadowbrook Bridge out of the annexation, but that was not possible because the annexation was initiated the city and King County, and not by voters. Since it is a negotiated annexation, 60 percent of the area’s border has to touch Snoqualmie’s existing city limits.

The city thinks Reinig Road is in “horrible shape,” City Administrator Bob Larson said.

Mill Pond Road is in worse condition, and the city could close it altogether if the annexation happens, Larson said.

Bringing it up to city standards is expected to cost $12,000, according to the study. The annual maintenance cost is estimated to be $6,000.

Council members asked for more information about the estimated life span of Meadowbrook Bridge, which is a registered historic landmark with the county. King County rebuilt the bridge for $7.7 million in 2005.

In the short run, Snoqualmie will bring in more money from the proposed annexation site than it would spend on the land, said Finance Officer Rob Orton, who authored the study.

City officials expect that revenue from the site would grow from future development.

Still without any concrete development proposals, it is impossible to do a long term fiscal analysis of annexation, Orton said.

“Usually you have some objective plan in front of you that you can evaluate objectively, but I don’t,” he said. “That’s part of the conundrum.”

But even if no development plans exist at the moment, the area has potential for future development, the consulting agency Berk noted in its peer review of the city’s fiscal impact study.

Given the current economic climate, developing the site could take time.

“Redevelopment — it’s going to occur. Not tomorrow, but eventually,” Larson said.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

Money for the King County Road Fund comes from a property tax levy of $2.25 per thousand of assessed value and gas tax revenue. But the county’s tax base is shrinking as cities annex many of the most densely populated unincorporated areas. Declining property values and declining gas tax revenue have also cut into the fund’s revenue.

In recent years, the fund has dropped from $128 million to $106 million.

To keep pace with its declining funding, the King County Road Services Division cut 81 positions this year. Another 30 are slated to be cut in Constantine’s proposed 2012 budget.

But while its revenues are dropping, the cost of maintaining roads is remaining largely the same, because annexations are not touching most of the county’s most expensive road to maintain.

“With fewer revenues, we must manage the most pressing problems that affect the most people with the resources we have. It is, in essence, triage,” Constantine said in a news release.

Constantine’s proposed tiered maintenance system uses the county’s Roads Strategic Plan to set priorities. The most used arterials would receive the highest level of maintenance, storm response and snow and ice removal, while the lowest-priority roads could be downgraded to gravel. If approved by the County Council as part of the 2012 budget, the new service approach would take effect in January 2012.

King County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, who represents Snoqualmie Valley, supports Constantine’s proposal.

“Revenues for our roads system will continue to greatly decrease as over half of the unincorporated population will ultimately be annexed into cities’ jurisdictions,” Lambert said in a statement. “Unfortunately, despite these annexations, the roadway infrastructure the County will have to continue to maintain will remain largely the same. We must prioritize how we spend our revenues in the unincorporated areas so that we can keep our roads as safe and productive as possible.”

The proposed system ranks the county’s nearly 1,600 miles of roadways into five service levels. The ranking is based on criteria such as volume of use, safety requirements, detour length, and whether the road is considered sole-access, a lifeline route or important for buses.

q Tier 1 (50 percent of daily trips): These roads are heavily-traveled arterials connecting large communities, major services and critical infrastructure. The county would provide the highest level of storm response, including the first roads to receive snow and ice removal. These roads will receive the highest level of maintenance and preservation.

q Tier 2 (20 percent of daily trips): These roads serve less populated areas and provide alternate routes to Tier 1 roads. They would receive maintenance to keep them in good condition. Preservation efforts would be reactive and prioritized based on the level of risk and availability of funding. Storm response and snow removal would be less than Tier 1 roads.

q Tier 3 (15 percent of daily trips): These are highly-used local roads serving local communities and large residential areas. Maintenance and preservation would slow slow deterioration, but users of tier 3 roads could expect to see wear-and-tear, possible load limits, lower posted speed limits and long-term partial closures. There would be little to no storm response or snow removal.

q Tier 4 (5 percent of daily trips): These are local residential dead-end roads that have no other outlet. Maintenance would be limited to work that preserves access. Some roads could be turned into gravel. There would be almost no snow removal or storm response.

q Tier 5 (10 percent of daily trips): These are local roads that have alternate routes available for travel in case of road closures. The county would provide the least reliable access with virtually no storm or snow response. Limited maintenance would lead to more road deterioration. Users of tier 5 roads could expect to see some closures, which may result in longer detours and difficulty accessing property.

The county’s rural roads are among its oldest and most vulnerable to damage because many run alongside rivers and streams, through heavily wooded areas, and at higher elevations.

The Governor’s Connecting Washington Task Force could have some answers for the situation when it finishes its proposal for a statewide transportation package.

A new model for funding county roads maintenance is needed, Constantine said.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

According to the preliminary timeline, the council would not take action on a Pre-annexation Agreement between the city, and the current owners and occupants of the mill site. If the City Council follows the proposed schedule, the annexation would be finished by November.

The crux of the process is the Pre-annexation Agreement, which lays out the annexation conditions between the city and the site’s current owners and occupants.

“Get the Pre-annexation Agreement wrapped up and everything else falls into place,” Snoqualmie City Attorney Pat Anderson said at the committee’s meeting.

The annexation must also be approved by King County Council, which has not adopted any timeline for the process.

Weyerhaeuser and Snoquamie Mill Ventures own the mill site. In 2010, Snoquamie Mill Ventures bought most of the site from Weyerhaeuser for $3.2 million. The company’s owner, Steve Rimmer, also owns Old Mill Adventures, which operates DirtFish Rally School, the mill site’s primary occupant. An excavation, logging and grading company, North Fork Enterprises also operates on part of the mill site.

DirtFish and the proposed annexation have drawn opposition from many residents in and around Snoqualmie. The opposition has been led by a grassroots organization, Your Snoqualmie Valley.

Critics of the annexation say it is happening too quickly, and is ignoring environmental and flooding concerns. Some opponents say that DirtFish is hurting the area’s quality of life because of its noise.

Supporters of the annexation hope that Snoqualmie can lure businesses to the mill site, and say that the city should have control over the site’s zoning.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

The measure, Proposition 1, garnered 66 percent of the vote in the initial round of results King County Elections released just after 8 p.m.

The figure is expected to shift in the coming days as the elections office receives and counts more ballots, but the measure appears certain to pass. The initial tally released Tuesday night encompassed 208,833 ballots.

The levy renewal is projected to generate $100 million through 2017. The funding is split 50-50 among programs for veterans and the neediest residents in King County.

The electorate approved the initial Veterans and Human Services Levy — 5 cents per $1,000 of assessed value — to fund programs for veterans and social service efforts in 2005. The existing levy is due to expire Dec. 31.

Proposition 1 matches the existing levy and does not include additional taxes. The owner of a home assessed at $340,000 is expected to pay $17 in 2012 if the levy is renewed.

Organizations operating in Snoqualmie Valley and the surrounding area, such as Friends of Youth and Hopelink, receive support from the levy.

The measure garnered broad support from human services organizations and advocates for veterans. The county Voters’ Guide, in fact, did not include any statements opposing Proposition 1.

“King County voters again demonstrated their support for providing critical services for our veterans and others in need,” County Councilman Bob Ferguson, sponsor of Proposition 1 and the initial levy in 2005, said in a statement. “The Veterans and Human Services Levy is a small investment with a huge impact. It provides essential services that help our veterans and strengthen our families, from employment training and housing to PTSD counseling.”

The agency plans to conduct in-person surveys at parks and along trails throughout August and September, including Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park between Issaquah and Newcastle, Marymoor Park in Redmond and along the Soos Creek Trail in Kent.

“We want to hear directly from parks and trails users about their experiences at King County Parks’ facilities so that we can help plan and prioritize for the future,” King County Parks Director Kevin Brown said in a statement. “Measuring customer satisfaction is consistent with King County’s strategic plan and provides us with important feedback.”

The schedule for in-person surveys is:

• Aug. 17 at Marymoor Park, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
• Aug. 22 at Five Mile Lake Park, 4-6 p.m.
• Aug. 22 at the Marymoor Park concert venue, 7-9 p.m.
• Sept. 8 at Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, 8-10 a.m.
• Sept. 10 along the Soos Creek Trail, 9-11 a.m.

The agency is also scheduling special workshops to gather input from younger park visitors. The survey teams already conducted a youth workshop at Steve Cox Memorial Park in White Center and surveyed visitors at Marymoor Park and Tolt-MacDonald Park in Carnation.

People interested in providing feedback online can do so starting Aug. 17 at the agency’s website.

Site Story, a local consultant specializing in community outreach, sustainability, and cultural and public open space planning is conducting the survey. The project is funded in part by a grant from the National Center for Civic Innovation.

King County Parks offers more than 200 parks and 175 miles of regional trails.

King County voters will decide the future of a county veterans-and-human-services levy on Election Day.

The electorate approved the initial veterans-and-human-services levy — 5 cents per $1,000 of assessed value — to fund programs for veterans and social service efforts in 2005. The measure, Proposition 1, is up for renewal on the Aug. 16 ballot.

If passed, the levy renewal is projected to generate $100 million through 2017.

The funding is split 50-50 among programs for veterans and the neediest residents in King County.

Proposition 1 matches the existing levy and does not include additional taxes. The owner of a home assessed at $340,000 is expected to pay $17 in 2012 if the levy is renewed. (The existing levy is due to expire Dec. 31.)

Proposition 1 receives broad support from human services organizations and advocates for veterans. The measure received unanimous support on the often-contentious council. The county Voters’ Guide does not include any statements against Proposition 1.

Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, Snoqualmie Valley’s representative on the council, did not support the original levy, but she is open to the renewal because, she said, the measure funds important programs.

“There were a lot of needs before. There are a lot of needs now that aren’t being totally met,” she said. “With the veterans coming back, I think it’s really important that we show them that we honor their service to us and to our country, by having the services they need prepared for them when they get here.”

Many veterans in the Snoqualmie Valley have had a difficult time accessing services that are available to them.

Once a month, Joel Estey, King County’s Regional Veterans Services liaison, spends a few hours at the Mount Si Senior Center in North Bend, helping local veterans tap into existing services, such as the Veterans Health Administration.

“Oftentimes, the VA itself can present a barrier to the people who need those services,” Estey said.

He estimates he works with 30-40 veterans from the Valley in person and more on the phone. Most of the veterans he sees in North Bend served in World War II, Korea or Vietnam, but younger veterans need services, as well.

Cynthia Lefever, of Renton, joined the county Veterans Citizen Levy Oversight Board in 2009 as she helped her son, U.S. Army Spc. Rory Dunn, recover from catastrophic injuries caused by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

“I saw it as a way to advocate for veterans that didn’t have a mom or a spouse or a family member to look out for them after they were retired from the military or even, actually, while they were still on active duty,” she said.

Levy funds programs

Countywide last year, organizations supported by the levy served 4,600 veterans, military personnel and family members, plus 8,600 homeless people or people at risk of becoming homeless, a report from the Veterans Citizen Levy Oversight Board shows.

Organizations in Snoqualmie Valley and the surrounding area use levy funds to house homeless parents, build affordable housing, offer child care, and assist unemployed and homeless teenagers.

“I think it has brought the community together, both on the veterans side and on the human services side, so that people are really much more aware of being collaborative and advocating for the need for the support,” Friends of Youth CEO Terry Pottmeyer said. “People understand how important the entire safety net is for the health of the community.”

Friends of Youth relies on levy funds for Healthy Start, a program for expectant young mothers, and teenage and young adult parents.

The nonprofit organization also receives about $70,000 for employment services for homeless teenagers and young adults. The budget for the program totals $90,000.

“The current economic downturn has hit that population probably the hardest as a demographic in terms of being able to find work,” Pottmeyer said.

Cities also support social services. North Bend gave $72,000 to several local service providers, including the Eastside Domestic Violence Program, Eastside Baby Corner and Mount Si Helping Hand Food Bank.

If the levy renewal passes Aug. 16, administrators intend to release a draft plan outlining service through 2017 soon after Election Day.

“The food bank that you may end up needing to go to, or the drug and alcohol rehab that your cousin, brother, sister, whoever may need to go to will be there because somebody needs it,” Lambert said.

Like many residents in unincorporated areas, Karen Lee wants King County to be more responsive to her needs and questions.

For her and her neighbors, King County is their local government. But it doesn’t seem as accessible as local government.

The county is working on a new outreach program to better serve Lee and other residents in unincorporated areas. The program will break the county into service areas with a single contact person for each area. Residents will be able to call their area’s liaison person, who will help find the person they should talk with.

Right now, those residents are largely on their own when they need help with services.

Unlike nearby residents in North Bend and Snoqualmie, Lee can’t pop over to City Hall with her questions. When she calls, she has to navigate through a flood of departments and agencies that often are tasked with serving unincorporated and incorporated areas.

Sure, there was the time she called about a pothole in her street, which was promptly filled, but that was the exception, she said.

“Everything else with the county I’ve sought assistance for, I haven’t gotten it,” she said.

Unincorporated area councils already perform a similar function, but they don’t cover all of the roughly 284,000 unincorporated county residents, including more than 11,000 people in the upper Snoqualmie Valley.

That prompted County Executive Dow Constantine to propose dividing unincorporated communities into so-called community service areas. The King County Council approved the plan July 11, and county staff members are working on getting it started.

The plan keeps existing community service centers and staff members, and unincorporated area councils. But it does not guarantee future funding for the councils, which, before this year, received $10,000 per year from the county.

“Our thinking is that this proposal will benefit everyone in the unincorporated area while allowing us to continue our relationship with the UACs,” said Lauren Smith, unincorporated areas adviser to Constantine.

Change or status quo

The community service areas plan is meant to connect residents and a designated staff team, rather than leaving residents to navigate county bureaucracy.

That is a message Smith heard again and again while meeting with people in unincorporated areas, she said.

“They don’t have to figure out who to call,” she said. “The staff knows and it’s just much easier to work with one person.”

A single point of contact would be useful, Lee said. It would especially be helpful when she is older, because she has no children.

Some members of UACs are skeptical, though.

“I have to agree with most of the rest of the UACs that we would just as soon leave things status quo,” said Peter Eberle, Four Creeks Unincorporated Area Council president.

County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert said the decision to overhaul outreach reflects a desire to provide services to as many people as possible, especially as the county faces lean budgets.

The plan requires an annual meeting with residents for each service zone to discuss problems, service changes and other developments.

“That helps people know what to expect,” said Lambert, who represents the Snoqualmie Valley.

The council amended Constantine’s proposal to require council members’ involvement in organizing the annual meetings.

The outreach program is expected to be operating by the start of 2012, Smith said. Staff members are finalizing the number and shapes of the service areas.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Report Warren Kagarise contributed to this report.

Public Health – Seattle & King County is asking residents to report dead birds. Crows, in particular, die quickly from West Nile virus, and clusters of dead crows could indicate the presence of the virus.

Officials did not detect West Nile virus in King County last year, but the virus has been active locally in the past.

Most people do not feel the effects of the infection, but in others, West Nile disease can cause severe symptoms, including diseases of the brain and spinal cord. West Nile disease caused 57 deaths in the United States last year, out of 1,021 reported cases in 41 states.

Throughout the summer and early fall, Public Health – Seattle & King County plans to collect dead birds deemed suitable for laboratory testing. The birds must be a crow, raven, jay or magpie; dead for less than 24 hours; and have no visible trauma or decay in order to be tested.

The mosquito most responsible for West Nile virus in King is the northern house mosquito, Culex pipiens. The species prefers to lay eggs in standing water. Even small amounts of water, such as in plant saucers or a clogged gutter, can produce many mosquitoes.

People can avoid mosquito bites by wearing long-sleeved shirts, long pants and socks. Health officials recommend for people to consider using insect repellent, too.

North Bend City Council members imposed a year long moratorium on medical marijuana production and distribution facilities June 7. Issaquah, Sammamish, Federal Way, Kent and other cities have also clamped down on medical-marijuana operations.

King County Executive Dow Constantine, however, does not intend to propose legislation to address the issue in rural and unincorporated areas.

“At this time, the executive does not plan to propose any new regulations governing dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county,” said Frank Abe, a spokesman for the executive.

The decision means medical-marijuana operations in unincorporated areas, such as The Kind Alternative Medical Collective, a nonprofit collective in Preston, can continue operations unaffected.

In the meantime, county officials plan to reach out to residents in unincorporated areas to address concerns.

“The King County executive, prosecutor and sheriff will continue to work with unincorporated area communities and other local jurisdictions to protect public health and safety, and monitor issues that evolve under the new state law,” Abe said.

Initiative 692, passed in 1998, allows people suffering from certain medical conditions to possess a 60-day supply of marijuana. Marijuana, for medical purposes or otherwise, remains illegal under federal law.

King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg does not prosecute “legitimate patients who qualify under the law if they reasonably adhere to the dictates of the statute” — a policy the prosecutor’s office adopted in October 2008, not long after the state Department of Health clarified possession rules for medical marijuana users.

County prosecutors continue to pursue marijuana cases related to the criminal drug trade.

State lawmakers attempted to legalize and regulate marijuana dispensaries and farms, but Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed measures to legalize such operations, and the truncated law took effect July 22.

Under the state law, up to 10 qualifying patients can join together and form a collective garden of up to 45 plants, so long as the marijuana is not visible from public spaces.

In unincorporated areas, “King County government will continue, as it has since the enactment of Initiative 692, to protect public health and safety through existing laws and regulations,” Abe said.

Warren Kagarise: 392-6434, ext. 234, or wkagarise@isspress.com.

Frances Lucero inspects a site along the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River infested with knotweed, an invasive plant. Lucero coordinates King County’s campaign to eradicate the non-native weed. By Dan Catchpole

There is a battle being waged along the banks of the Snoqualmie River. Natives are fighting foreigners — with some help from humans.

The Snoqualmie River is one of six where King County is combating Japanese knotweed. Knotweed is one of the area’s many invasive weeds — plants that push native species out of the way and often harm the existing ecosystem. The county, other agencies, organizations and residents have been eradicating the plant for several years in a targeted campaign to reclaim the river.

Invasive species can cause devastating ecological and economical damage. But with so many of them around, people charged with controlling them must pick their battles.

“Just because it’s not native isn’t enough,” said Sasha Shaw, the Noxious Weed Program’s outreach manager.

To be considered a problem by the county, non-native plants must hurt the local ecosystem by pushing out native plants, and depriving wildlife of food sources and habitat.

Knotweed does all of those on the Snoqualmie in abundance. It’s broad leaves block out the sun for other vegetation on the forest floor. Its roots suck up nutrients, starving other plants.

It takes away habitat from native species and contributes to riverbank erosion. It crowds out native plants with stronger root systems that help hold riverbanks together.

Knotweed’s roots and stems are designed to break apart and float downriver, which is how it spreads itself. As the knotweed uproots, the dirt in riverbanks gets washed downstream.

Knotweed also takes away habitat from native insects on the river. Along the river, the leaves of indigenous plants typically sit a few inches off the water, creating a sheltered space for insects to live. Knotweed’s leaves reach down to the water.

But the problem doesn’t end with the insects. Fewer bugs means less food for fish, which means less food for other animals higher up the food chain.

That is the real ecological danger of invasive species: their effect isn’t limited, but it ripples through the local ecosystem, said Heidi Bohan, an ethnobotanist who works with the Snoqualmie Tribe.

Ultimately, the effects are felt by the wildlife, Bohan said.

Those effects can be felt far and wide, and can quickly become full-fledged economic disasters. Since the emerald ash borer beetle was detected in North America in 2002, it has killed more than 30 million ash trees. Every year, European gypsy moths defoliate millions of acres of forest in the eastern United States.

Invasive species cost the U.S. almost $120 billion a year, according to a 2004 estimate by researchers at Cornell University.

Human travel typically is how invasive species move into new areas. Sometimes it is unwitting, but sometimes it is intentional.

Knotweed became a popular ornamental plant in 1920s and was widely planted through the 1960s.

“It was an exotic plant that was promoted,” Shaw said. “So a lot of people planted it in this area, and each one of those plantings became a vector for infestation.”

To fight knotweed in the upper Snoqualmie River watershed, King County spends about $450,000 a year, with more than $400,000 coming from grants, according to Frances Lucero, who manages the county’s efforts.

She coordinates eradication campaigns on six rivers. The work is done by private landowners, volunteers, King County weed experts and other public entities, including the city of Snoqualmie.

“It’s a lot of work for one person to go out and take care of a problem like this, but it’s not a huge problem for lots of different people to chip away at, a little bit at a time,” Lucero said.

Education and outreach are two important weapons for the program. Each year Lucero trains dozens of volunteers to use guns that inject herbicide into the knotweed stalks.

Eradicating knotweed from an area takes four or five years, with regular monitoring to follow, Lucero said.

Infested sites often require two years of treatment with targeted herbicide, and native species must be re-planted, sometimes more than once.

Once knotweed is cleared out, sometimes other non-native plants move in.

“You just pick your battles sometime,” Lucero said. “It’ll never be perfect. This is a disturbed area — people have been here, a big river runs through here. There are always going to be some non-native and invasive plants. You just try to keep it in check.”

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

Opponents say the mill site’s current occupant, DirtFish Rally School, is hurting their quality of life and lowering property values, among other concerns. They want city or county officials to muffle noise and other impacts from DirtFish.

The school says that it is operating within county guidelines.

A noise complaint was filed with the county, but it was put on hold once city and county officials began discussions about annexation.

The increasingly organized opposition to DirtFish and annexation prompted County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert to hold a public hearing in Snoqualmie Tuesday night.

Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson and other city officials want the site, which sits inside the city’s growth boundary, to open up for business development in addition to maintaining the rally school.

King County wants to transfer all unincorporated lands that sit inside growth boundaries to municipalities, allowing it to focus its services on a more rural population.

The noise and other impacts from DirtFish, which teaches rally car driving, are hurting Snoqualmie Valley’s idyllic nature, according to opponents.

“We are a family community; let’s keep it that way,” Warren Rose said at the hearing.

Rose and his neighbors in unincorporated King County have formed a citizens’ group to oppose the annexation.

Critics’ comments at the public hearing were deeply cynical about the annexation process. They expressed skepticism with DirtFish’s intentions.

“It upsets me that the mayor doesn’t fight as hard for this town as its people do,” said one Snoqualmie resident.

Larson told the crowd that many people had expressed to him their support for annexation. The crowd at the Snoqualmie Planning Commission’s May 2 meeting had been more evenly divided between supporters and detractors of annexation.

Lambert said that their concerns had been heard “loud and clear.”

DirtFish President Ross Bentley asked people with complaints to talk with him in hopes of finding a way to reduce the impact.

Snoqualmie City Council is holding a public hearing on annexation at 7 p.m. May 23 at City Hall.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

The service allows customers to enter more complex applications into a new program called Pre-Submittal Services. It is meant to help people with permit applications that are too complicated for over-the-counter service but not so involved that they require — or qualify for — a pre-application meeting.

The new system is intended to provide feedback by identifying technical issues or red flags early on, and set expectations for the permit process, according to a news release from King County.

This early feedback should reduce the time required for permit application review by DDES staff, according to the release.

“It should speed up review times, improve communication with our customers and enable applicants to start their projects sooner,” DDES Director John Starbard said in the release.

The new service is expected to help with 12 types of mid-sized permit applications, including new dwellings, agricultural buildings, signs, tenant improvements, small commercial buildings, grading and boundary line adjustments. There is an up-front $357 fee for using the system. The cost will be credited to the final cost of the application.

The service is available from 9 a.m. to noon and 1-3 p.m. weekdays. Get hours and the location of the DDES at www.kingcounty.gov/permits.

Matias Valenzuela, public education coordinator with the county’s public health department, said his office has responded to six confirmed cases in the Valley, all in adults.

The nonlethal virus spreads easily, Valenzuela said in a press release, and it can spread through close contact with a person with hepatitis A.

The illness can spread when an infected person does not wash hands adequately after using the toilet and has close contact with others, or prepares food or drinks for others.

It cannot spread through coughing, sneezing or casual contact.

Valenzuela recommended vaccination for all children up to age 18. Adults at increased risk should also get vaccinated, as well as anyone who wants protection against the disease.

High-risk adults include drug users, gay men, bisexual men, people with chronic liver disease, people who travel to countries with high hepatitis A rates and people with clotting factor disorders, such as hemophilia.

The vaccination should occur in two doses at least six months apart, for the best protection, Valenzuela stated.

The vaccine provides protection for at least 25 years in adults and at least 14-20 years in children, King County epidemiologist Tao Kwan-Gett wrote in an email.

People working with nonhuman primates susceptible to the illness are also at risk, Kwan-Gett wrote.

High-risk areas for hepatitis A include Mexico, Central and South America, Greenland, Africa, and southern and southeastern Asia, according to a map from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Symptoms include yellowing of the skin and eyes, fever, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Young children sometimes show mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, Kwan-Gett wrote, adding that parents sometimes don’t realize a child is infected until a relative gets the disease from the child.

“As long as everyone in the family is healthy, parents don’t need to worry if their children don’t have any symptoms,” he wrote.

Nevertheless, children without symptoms can still transmit the disease.

“Almost everyone who is infected gets better on their own without any lasting effects,” Kwan-Gett wrote. “Rarely, however, the virus can cause severe liver damage requiring hospitalization, sometimes even a liver transplant.”

People in the Valley without a health care provider or health insurance and who are at higher risk for hepatitis A should call the county’s public health department at 206-297-4774, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Their workdays are full of loud noise, so they appreciate the quiet of their home the east of Snoqualmie, overlooking the former Weyerhaeuser Mill site.

But the mill’s new tenant, the DirtFish Rally School, is cutting into that quiet, the McCulloughs say.

They could clearly hear the roaring engines and public announcement system during the Global RallyCross championship round held recently at the school.

Other neighbors said they could hear the noise, too.

Rally driving uses souped-up street cars on dirt and gravel courses.

An information packet put together by DirtFish executives when they were applying to King County for permits to open the school explicitly states that the site “will not have any rally or racing competition events taking place at our facility.”

But the Global RallyCross event was a made-for-television event filmed by cable sports network ESPN, DirtFish President Ross Bentley said.

“We don’t have ongoing race events,” he said.

The Metropolitan King County Council issued a special temporary permit for the two-day race.

The race was within the county’s limits on noise, Bentley said.

The event brought in money for local businesses. Driver Rhys Millen said he spent $1,200 at the 76 Station in Snoqualmie.

DirtFish’s neighbors are wary, though.

“Our understanding was that it would be just a driving school,” Gail said.

She and other neighbors said they could hear cars racing after 6 p.m.

Bentley said operations stop by 6 p.m. at the latest and usually at about 5 p.m.

“If people are hearing things, they should contact me,” he said.

From his office at DirtFish, he said he can sometimes hear trucks at a nearby gravel pit, and dirt bikes being run by people not affiliated with the school and not on the mill site.

The McCulloughs and some neighbors said they plan to bring their concerns to DirtFish, and to King County and Snoqualmie, which is in negotiations with the county to annex the mill site.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

The local affects of a potential federal government shutdown are likely to be limited. Snoqualmie Valley residents could feel the affects of a shutdown mostly in delayed paperwork.

The shutdown could come on Saturday, if Democrats and Republicans are unable to reach a compromise on the 2011 budget. A stopgap spending bill expires Friday.

After that, all non-essential services will be suspended. Post Offices will remain open Medicare and Social Security benefits will also continue.

People filing paper tax returns will have to wait to be processed. Loans from the Federal Housing Authority would also not be processed, which could hurt the fragile housing market, according to some analysts.

The US Forest Service’s North Bend office would be closed. It has 25 employees, according to Jim Franzel, the North Bend District Ranger. He was a ranger in Alaska in 1995, the last time the federal government shutdown.

Fortunately, the federal staff maintaining the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest is notdoing much field work right now, so a shutdown shouldn’t affect people too much, Franzel said.

Most roads and campgrounds in the forest are still closed because of snow and the cold spring. The Snoqualmie Pass Visitors Center is closed, as well.

National forest recreation sites that require an employee to be open will be closed, said an official for the US Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service.

Law enforcement and fire suppression in national forests will continue.

Unlike then, visitors can get much of the information available at ranger offices online.

City operations in Snoqualmie and North Bend would be largely unaffected.

Snoqualmie officials could have to wait a little while longer to find out about grant applications, such as to pay for elevating houses in the FEMA floodway.

“A two week or three week shutdown, I can’t see being too big a deal for us,” Snoqualmie City Administrator Bob Larson said.

A shutdown could cut off money for King County programs funded by federal grants. County staff is trying to determine which programs could be affected.

“We’re not sure if the federal government knows what the affects would be,” said Frank Abe, spokesman for King County Executive Dow Constantine. 

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

The City Council voted to 5-1 at its March 28 meeting to enter into negotiations with the county.

But several council members raised questions about the potential cost of annexing the area, most of which sits in the FEMA floodway.

Mayor Matt Larson’s administration believes the site still offers economic opportunities despite the strict limits on development. 

While the city talks with the county about the details of annexation, the Planning Commission will consider the issue and hold public hearings. The commission will make a recommendation on annexation to the council, which will have the final vote on the matter. 

Costs vs. benefits

Several council members are uncertain about the area’s potential benefit, but only one, Councilman Charlie Peterson, voted against beginning negotiations.

“My concerns are that we’re not evaluating the social and economic costs of annexing that area before moving forward,” Peterson said.

Supporters of annexation said that it could increase the city’s business tax base, but by how much and at what cost is not clear.

“All we were given was it would increase real estate tax revenue, increased business and operating tax revenue. We were given no dollar amounts,” Peterson said.

The site sits inside Snoqualmie’s urban growth boundary, and, if annexed, it would be zoned as commercial/industrial use.

The only business on the land is DirtFish Rally School, which is owned by the owners of Snoqualmie Mill Ventures.

FEMA floodway designation prohibits construction that would raise flood levels.

The area is currently part of unincorporated King County. Snoqualmie police responded when requested. Snoqualmie Fire Department has an agreement with DirtFish to respond, for which it is reimbursed.

By annexing the area, the city would bare the costs of providing services and maintaining the roads, two of which often flood.

Peterson wondered if the money needed for that could be better used elsewhere.

“We have over six miles in downtown Snoqualmie and on the Ridge that need to be repaired,” he said.

The city is considering taking on debt to pay for the work he referenced.

Councilman Bob Jeans believes the property has “tremendous potential” for industry or retail.

Annexation will also give Snoqualmie control over property that sits next to the downtown, albeit across the river.

That is the priority for Councilman Kingston Wall.

“When is it ever a good thing to leave the future of your neighboring land up to someone else beside you,” he said.

King County’s willingness to part with the property did raise some concern for him, Wall said.

The county told Snoqualmie it had to vote to begin negotiations by March 28.

DirtFish supports the annexation.

“We feel we’re part of Snoqualmie,” said Ross Bentley, the school’s president.

Planning larger events will probably be easier with the city than with the county, he said.

It also will be easier for some neighbors to lodge noise complaints.

Gail McCullough and her neighbors in unincorporated King County say the school is too loud. They plan to file complaints with Snoqualmie before the annexation.

Bentley said the school is within noise regulations.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

The outlook for 2011 isn’t any better, according to market analysts.

Home prices in King County fell in February to a new low since the real estate boom collapsed in 2008.

Prices have been pulled down by short sales and foreclosures, which are often priced below market value. That is especially true of the Ridge, which has a higher rate of distressed properties — bank-owned homes and short sales listed for less than the owner owes the lender — than the rest of the county.

The number of distressed properties is expected by analysts to rise in 2011, meaning prices will likely continue declining for the rest of the year.

Experts don’t expect prices to stabilize before 2012.

“This year’s going to be tough for everyone,” said Glenn Crellin, an economist and director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at Washington State University.

Across the county, 37 percent of houses for sale in February were considered distressed, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

On Snoqualmie Ridge, that number is 42 percent, and many of those are on the Ridge, said Cary Porter, a Realtor with The Cascade Team, a local real estate agency.

“We’re at 42 percent and headed up,” Porter said.

When a house is sold at below-market price, it forces down the value of other houses on the street.

Porter pointed to his own house on Carmichael Loop. He paid $720,000 in 2005, when housing prices were rushing up. There was recently a short sale on his block for $545,000.

“That means my house is worth maybe $525,000,” he said. “My price is going to go down for another year.”

He expects that if home values recover at a steady 3 percent after 2012, it will take about 16 years for his house to reach its 2005 value.

“Twenty-two years after moving in, I can sell my house for zero profit,” he said.

Fortunately, he likes his neighbors.

Most of the houses on the Ridge were bought when home prices were soaring upward.

“Almost everyone on the Ridge is upside down,” meaning they owe more than on their home than it is worth, Porter said.

Higher-end properties have seen even larger drops in market value. He recently helped sell a home on the Ridge for $500,000. The owner had paid $1,050,000.

“It has just, whew — straight down,” he said while slashing his hand downward.

Prices are also being driven down because the market has too many houses for sale. Currently, there is a 10-month backlog of homes in Snoqualmie Valley. Porter said he expects it to rise to about 12 months because more houses are typically listed in the spring.

A six-month supply usually means prices will be stable.

With so many houses for sale, buyers can be picky. The average home for sale in Snoqualmie and North Bend spends 169 days on the market. That compares to 45 days four years ago.

Since prices are headed down, the longer a home sits on the market, the less it will probably sell for.

“Do homes sell in one day? Absolutely, but they have to be priced right,” Porter said.

One of his agents recently sold a house for $585,000, but three years ago, it would have sold for $800,000, he said.

In addition to the inventory of existing homes, sellers also have to compete with new homes from developers. While home construction on the Ridge has slowed dramatically, it still continues.

To lure buyers, developers have had to increase their offerings, upgrading amenities and slashing prices. That is another drag on home prices.

Builders are still putting up new homes because they have already paid for infrastructure improvements, and they can also spread their losses out across a wider area.

Not all news has been bad news for homeowners, though.

There have been signs that buyers’ confidence in the economy is improving, but that could be short lived if rising energy prices and international instability put a brake on the recovery, Crellin said.

Rising gas prices could especially hurt the Valley, where the vast majority of residents commute to work.

“That’s a very expensive commute with current gas prices,” he said.

Still, analysts see 2011 as a year that must be endured.

“We’re still going to drop for the rest of the year. It’s just math,” Porter said.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

But the once sleepy city isn’t the only part of the Valley that has seen dramatic change in the past decade.

All of the Snoqualmie Valley has changed. Its complexion has darkened. While still predominantly white, the Valley has a growing minority population.

An influx of foreign-born immigrants into King County has contributed to that growing population.

The Valley’s immigrants face many challenges in adapting to their new communities. Language and cultural barriers make finding work and forming local ties to the nonimmigrant population difficult for some.

The Valley’s communities and school district have adapted to meet the needs of the new residents. Services have been created or expanded to help immigrants.

Snoqualmie Ridge fueled changes

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Snoqualmie Ridge has fueled the population explosion in the Valley, and its picturesque streets have helped change the complexion of the city and the upper Valley.

“Snoqualmie Ridge has undoubtedly attracted a population that’s much more like the new population coming to King County,” said Chandler Felt, a demographer with King County.

That new population is more diverse in its ethnicity and place of birth. The county’s population growth has been driven more by immigration than births.

“So, some of those migrants probably came to Snoqualmie,” Felt said.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Snoqualmie’s foreign-born population is about 11 percent, according to data collected by the U.S. Census from 2005 to 2009.

The Ridge’s population is also less white than the rest of Snoqualmie. About 82.9 percent of Ridge residents are white, compared to 86.3 percent in historic Snoqualmie.

North Bend’s white population is 90.7 percent of the city.

The changing demographics haven’t created any tensions for either city, but they did prompt an international incident for Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson.

In 2005, Larson signed a decree in support of a local group of Falun Gong adherents. It was a backroom affair, one that he does for many local groups each year.

But unlike most community groups in Snoqualmie, Falun Gong is banned by China. Since 1999, the Chinese government has persecuted its adherents.

Shortly after signing the decree, Larson was visited by members of the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco. They demonized Falun Gong as a criminal organization and asked him to revoke his decree.

“I politely explained to them that we have something here called the Constitution,” Larson said.

Struggling for opportunities

Coming to the Snoqualmie Valley was like “a dream” for Hiwot Wondemagegen. In 2003, she and her husband, Ashenafi, moved to the Valley from Ethiopia with their 5-month-old daughter.

A family friend from Ethiopia who moved to Fall City sponsored them for immigration officials. At first, they lived with him and his wife, who is American. Now, the couple lives in Snoqualmie with their daughter and 4-year-old son.

They have struggled at times to feel at home in their new community, but have developed a network of friends made up of immigrants and nonimmigrants.

Finding work can be hard for immigrants, especially for those who don’t speak English well.

Ashenafi was able to find a job shortly after the couple arrived. Hiwot is a stay-at-home mother.

Both had careers in Ethiopia. Ashenafi was an architect, and Hiwot was an accountant. Today, Ashenafi works as an attendant at a gas station and takes night classes in applied design at Lake Washington Technical College.

Hiwot doesn’t regret giving up her career to come to the U.S. The couple didn’t come to find opportunities for themselves. They came so their children could have opportunities.

“I want my kids to grow up in the land of opportunity,” she said.

Moving here was an easy decision to make, but living here hasn’t always been easy for the couple. Like many immigrants, they have struggled with language and cultural barriers.

“English is my second language, so I just try to say it slower” to avoid misunderstandings, Hiwot said.

American culture has taken getting used to. Neighbors are more private in the Valley, compared to Ethiopia.

“It’s not easy to know people the way you did in Ethiopia,” she said.

But the couple has developed a strong social network, including some fellow Ethiopians.

For the couple’s children, the Valley is the only home they have ever known.

Education, English are important

The Wondemagegens’ experience is typical for many of the immigrants that Gresia Bratton meets at Encompass, where she is a family support specialist.

“We get people who come here from everywhere,” but they share some common threads, she said.

An immigrant’s educational background greatly affects his or her experience. Immigrants with more education and a better grasp of English have an easier time establishing themselves in the Valley.

“Having a stable education background, that gives you something to work with,” Bratton said.

Other immigrants with less education and a weaker grasp of English face far greater challenges in finding work and becoming part of their new communities.

The “hardest part about living in the Valley is finding work,” Gabriela Escobar, a Snoqualmie housewife, said in Spanish. “I think people worry too much about whether you are here legally.”

Escobar, who speaks only broken English, hasn’t found steady work since moving to the U.S. from Mexico six years ago.

Her husband and relatives have also had difficulty finding work due to their limited English, she said.

Not speaking English also limits their social interactions.

“We interact almost totally with Latinos,” she said. “We don’t deal with immigrants from other parts of the world, and we don’t deal much with Americans.”

Fitting in at school

Snoqualmie Valley schools have had to adapt to meet the needs of the growing immigrant community, especially those who don’t speak English well.

Karen Schotzko heads up the school district’s program to teach English to non-native speakers.

Without a good grasp of English, students can quickly fall behind and become isolated.

“It’s difficult to understand the content, and they have a hard time communicating with teachers,” Schotzko said.

She works with 116 students spread throughout the district, helping them learn what she calls “academic” English — the language of the classroom.

“If their class is studying the weather next week, we go in and teach them the vocabulary they need — precipitation, cloud,” Schotzko said. “So, when the teacher teaches the weather system in class, you understand what’s being taught.”

Like the rest of Snoqualmie Valley’s immigrant population, Schotzko’s students come from a wide array of backgrounds, speaking more than 25 native languages.

“Certainly having a bilingual program is not an option,” she said.

Still, the largest group is Spanish speakers, who make up a little less than half of her students. More than 5 percent of the Valley is Hispanic or Latino.

Several students are Korean, but the rest are a mix including Chinese, Finnish, Indian and French.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Reporter Sebastian Moraga contributed to this story.

The county’s infrastructure needs are serious and looming, and money is short. But 30 percent to 40 percent of roads could fail in the next decade. Less than 60 percent of the system’s maintenance needs can be met in the next few years with current funding.

The situation should not be a surprise, and yet the county’s recently released Strategic Plan for Road Services reads like it is.

Where was the foresight? Transportation revenue is falling for several reasons, some of which should have been expected. The gas tax supports road work. Gas mileage has risen for decades. It is not hard to predict that gas tax revenue would likewise decrease.

The current funding model is unsustainable. In 2011, the King County Department of Transportation would need $240 million to restore and maintain the current system. It needs between $120 million and $130 million to slow the current rate of decline. It will collect about $102 million.

New funding models are required. Do they exist? Yes. But many are politically unpopular. Too bad, politicians, it’s your job!

Residents of unincorporated King County have to pay for the roads they depend on. But King County has begun dipping into its roads fund to use $4 million to pay for traffic enforcement. While enforcement is important, so is preventing road and bridge failures.

Given the dire circumstances, the county must consider saving money by relaxing county environmental regulations until the economy improves.

One option is for King County to potentially save money by putting maintenance work out to bid to take advantage of the weak construction market, letting the county’s own transportation department enter the bid process.

The gas tax must be scrapped and replaced with a more equitable vehicle-miles-traveled tax to more accurately reflect usage of the system.

Citizens must pay attention and give politicians the necessary support to enact changes before our roads and bridges crumble.

Workers with King County’s Road Services Division repave a section of the 1,691 paved roads the county maintains. Declining revenues and increasing costs will limit the county’s maintenance work in the coming years. (Photo by Ned Ahrens)

King County’s roads are old and getting older. The tax revenues to maintain them are too little and decreasing.

A recently published county report on its roads and bridges proposed a conservative plan to slow the system’s decline in the next few years.

The plan is a short-term solution, though. Transportation experts and politicians agree that a new way to pay for the county’s roads has to be found and implemented.

Revenue sources for King County’s roads have declined and will continue to fall for myriad reasons — annexations, the economic recession, the housing market collapse, changes in consumer behavior, shortsighted tax policy. At the same time, the cost of road maintenance has risen and is expected to continue rising.

The situation is a “perfect storm,” said Mark Hallenbeck, a transportation engineer and director of the Washington State Transportation Center at the University of Washington.

In the long term, a fundamentally new approach is needed, Hallenbeck said.

The county’s Strategic Plan for Road Services looks at the immediate problem from 2011-2015. During those years, several unincorporated urban areas are expected to be annexed into existing cities. They will take with them some of the county’s highest tax revenue areas. Even after annexations, the county will still be responsible for the vast majority of the roads it currently maintains.

Next year, to maintain and improve the existing road system, the county’s Road Services Division estimates it would need $240 million. It will receive about $102 million.

The plan, written by a work group of county specialists, proposed an option to slow down the system’s deterioration and would cost $120 million to $130 million.

The option would maintain current conditions.

“However, inevitable deterioration would still occur over time and would ultimately need to be addressed,” the plan states.

The rapid drop in funding caught county officials off guard.

While the annexations were expected, they happened more quickly than anticipated, said Jay Osborne, the Road Services’ Capital Improvement Program and Planning Section manager. “This is the first time all of the data was assembled to describe the order of magnitude, and the revenues have changed dramatically over the last few years.”

Road Services money has suffered from the elimination of the Local Option Vehicle License Fee, the cap on property tax growth, declining gas tax revenue, and fewer available federal and state grants.

The bulk of the agency’s money next year — about $80 million — will come from the property tax in unincorporated areas. Because of a voter-approved initiative supported by the Legislature, the tax can only be increased by 1 percent each year. Except for this year and last year, inflation has far outpaced increases in property taxes.

The gas tax is estimated to contribute $14 million to the agency’s account. But gas tax revenue has steadily declined for years, because residents are driving increasingly fuel-efficient vehicles. In addition, the tax isn’t tied to inflation.

“The amount of money we’re paying keeps decreasing,” Hallenbeck said. “Every time you change your ’72 Camaro to a 2009 Prius, the amount of money you pay goes down.”

Recent increases in the state-collected gas tax — a voter-approved initiative in 2003 and legislation in 2005 — have not increased King County’s money for road maintenance.

Growth in unincorporated areas and cities has also added wear and tear, and demand on the road system, he said.

Many of the county’s existing roads and bridges are approaching or past the life span for which they were designed.

Older roads are simply more expensive to keep up, Hallenbeck said.

Another factor contributing to rising costs is much maintenance work is done at night.

“We don’t want to be inconvenienced by our maintenance. So, they work at night, and that costs more,” he said. “The alternative is to close the road.”

The report states that its recommended option would likely include “more temporary road closures due to unscheduled repairs.”

Environmental and mitigation requirements also add to the cost of repairs. Runoff from roads and other sources is the leading pollutant in Puget Sound, according to a 2007 study paid for by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“Nowadays, when you build a road, you build it so water goes to grass to treat it,” Hallenbeck said.

To temporarily reduce costs, Metropolitan King County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert wants the county to consider suspending some of its own environmental regulations.

Her staff has not studied the issue, so it is not clear how much it could help, she said. But, generally, “we have a lot of regulations that other counties don’t have.”

Whatever the short-term fix, a new funding model needs to be implemented, Hallenbeck said.

Tolls are becoming increasingly popular among transportation planners, but these and other potential models are often politically unpopular, he said.

Lambert, a member of the report’s advisory committee, agreed.

“None of these are easy choices,” she said.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

More than 90 percent of all King County employees will not receive cost-of-living raises in 2011, which will save the county about $23.5 million.

All employees not represented by unions and most union-represented employees are included. County Executive Dow Constantine’s office has been in negotiations for several months with more than 70 collective bargaining groups representing about 10,000 of the county’s 13,000 employees. All but approximately 1,300 workers have agreed to waive their COLAs for next year.

Constantine is expected this week to send to the Metropolitan King County Council an ordinance proposing the COLA freeze for non-represented workers as a means of helping to restore positions and services to the public that would otherwise be reduced or eliminated.

The effort will save about $23.5 million. Of that, about $6 million will be in the county’s general fund, which faces a $60 million shortfall. Constantine’s proposed budget included deep cuts to balance the budget.

As the Metropolitan King County Council deliberates over next year’s budget, human services providers affected by proposed cuts are making sure their voices are heard.

County Executive Dow Constantine’s budget proposal cuts the last of the county’s once healthy general-fund monies for human services as part of austerity measures to close an impending $60 million shortfall.

Providers of services to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, and other services have broadcast the need for their services to the budget committee at three public hearings in October.

Amara Oden, Sno-Valley Senior Center executive director, asks members of the Metropolitan King County Council to preserve money for human services in the county budget, which is $60 million short. By Simon Ferretta

One woman, a survivor of domestic violence, bluntly told council members at a public hearing, “I would be dead without these services.”

Formerly trapped in a violent relationship, the woman is now a public school teacher.

“They’re making a compelling case for us to reprioritize the executive’s budget,” Councilwoman Julia Patterson said after a public hearing at Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie.

Constantine’s office doesn’t defend the cuts, except to say that the executive is legally obligated to deliver a balanced budget proposal to County Council.

“These kind of cuts don’t make us more efficient,” said Frank Abe, a spokesman for Constantine.

“Though this budget is balanced, it is an imperfect budget. It is an unpleasant budget,” Constantine told the County Council when he presented his proposed budget in September. “It makes reductions in critical services that I do not want to make, but which must be made in order for the budget to be in balance.”

Local providers ask for support

Local providers of human services in Snoqualmie Valley also came out to plead for continued county support. Administrators and clients of senior centers in North Bend and Carnation told the council members of the value they offer the community. Both are in the proposed 2011 budget, but have seen support cut in recent years.

“We are a lifeline” for many seniors, said Amara Oden, director of the SnoValley Senior Center in Carnation.

With demand for their services increasing, the senior centers must have continued support, Mount Si Senior Center Director Ruth Tolmasoff said.

The North Bend-based organization has seen its number of clients rise during the recession and sluggish recovery. Among the clients are a growing number of veterans, Tolmasoff said.

Other comments by Snoqualmie Valley residents reflected the area’s rural nature.

One woman from Fall City took issue with proposed cuts to police officers patrolling unincorporated areas.

The mayors from Snoqualmie and North Bend asked the budget committee to maintain funding for the King County Flood District.

“Our economic function is protected by flood district money,” North Bend Mayor Ken Hearing said.

The district has also helped protect homes, Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson said.

In the past three years, the district has helped pay to raise 70 homes in Snoqualmie. That is the same number of homes raised in Snoqualmie between 1990 and the district’s creation in 2007, he said.

County can’t pay for everything

While dozens of people have made compelling cases to council members for preserving a variety of programs, the fact remains that the county does not have enough money to maintain services at current levels. The $612.8 million general fund is about $60 million short.

To bring expenditures in line with revenue, Constantine’s proposed budget makes deep cuts to existing programs. The cuts are not popular, but they are necessary, according to Abe.

The entire budget totals $5 billion, but almost all of it has to be spent on certain things, such as outstanding debt and capital improvements. The general fund, which pays for critical day-to-day services, makes up only 13 percent of the county’s total budget.

So, while the county’s overall budget is large, the council and executive have very little flexibility regarding how it is spent.

That flexibility has been shrinking in recent years as rising expenses have quickly surpassed the county’s revenues.

Revenues have shrunk in part from the recession and also from caps on how much the county can raise taxes, typically below inflation.

The revenue system is largely dependent on property tax and sales tax to pay for public services. The system “dates back to the farm-based economies of the 1850s,” according to the County Council’s website.

The site said the difference between rising expenses and the limited rate revenue can increase a “structural gap.”

Patterson agreed that it is a structural issue, and said that reforms being implemented by the council and the executive are addressing that problem.

Fundamental solutions are needed

Some of the fixes are short-term ones.

Constantine’s office has been in negotiations with unions representing more than 10,000 county employees about waiving guaranteed cost-of-living increases in 2011. So far, unions representing more than 5,000 employees have agreed to forgo the raises, which is expected to save the county several million dollars.

While Constantine has proposed 12 percent across-the-board reductions, he has also asked county employees to pay 12.5 percent more for their benefits package.

The council has also introduced reforms to its labor negotiating policies to bring future cost-of-living increases in line with actual inflation.

The biggest challenge, Patterson said, is rising medical expenses, most of which lie outside the county’s control.

For the foreseeable future, Constantine’s office expects county expenses to rise about three percent a year. That is about $15 million to $20 million a year in current dollars.

To meet rising costs, Constantine has implemented a countywide effort to find 3 percent savings in improved efficiency every year. His office believes that these savings can be found every year.

“We believe that because we know that our employees know best how to get the job done,” Abe said.

To help in the effort, barriers would be removed to make it easier for employees to find and implement cost-savings, he said.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

King County officials say that is what is required to avoid drastic cuts in criminal justice and public safety services. Voters will decide in the Nov. 2 election whether to increase the county sales tax by two-tenths of a cent to minimize layoffs of sheriff’s deputies, prosecutors, public defenders and court employees.

After several months of debate, the Metropolitan King County Council voted 5-4 to put the proposal on the general election ballot.

The proposal would raise the sales tax in most of King County from 9.5 percent to 9.7 percent. The county has one of the highest sales tax rates in the country, according to economists.

If passed, it is estimated to raise $59 million in 2011 and $80 million in 2012, the first full year it would be in effect.

Half of the tax increase would be collected to keep employees who would otherwise be laid off. That portion would expire after three years, unless extended by voters. The county would receive 60 percent of that money, and cities would receive 40 percent.

The other half would pay for a new Youth Services Center courthouse in Seattle and would be collected for 20 years.

Public safety and criminal justice officials backed the sales tax measure as a way to diminish cuts to their agencies.

Deep cuts

King County faces a $63.5 million budget shortfall in 2011 and potentially a more than $80 million gap the next year, according to the county’s economic forecast.

To close the gap, King County Executive Dow Constantine has proposed an across-the-board, 12-percent budget cut to all tax-supported county agencies.

“It threatens the whole administration of the criminal justice system,” Superior Court Presiding Judge Bruce Hilyer said.

He joined District Court Presiding Judge Barbara Linde, Prosecutor Dan Satterberg and Sheriff Sue Rahr in backing the tax increase.

In courthouses, budget cuts will mean fewer prosecutors and public defenders, fewer court employees, more time before cases go to trial, longer waits for court records and to even enter the courthouses, and fewer cases being tried.

On the streets in unincorporated areas, budget cuts will mean things like longer response times, fewer investigations and less backup for sheriff’s deputies.

The King County Sheriff’s Office has already started preparing to lay off nearly 30 officers, demote 12 and transfer 50 detectives and supervisors back to patrol if the tax proposal doesn’t pass, according to Rahr. The department is also preparing to consolidate facilities.

The Youth Services Center courthouse must be replaced. It is crowded, unsafe, and stiflingly hot in the summer and chillingly cold in the winter, Hilyer said.

“No one drinks the water — it’s all brown,” he added.

Sales tax is already a burden

The sales tax measure will only require a simple majority to pass, but County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, who represents the Snoqualmie Valley, said she is doubtful it will manage that based on conversations with her constituents.

“It was a pretty overwhelming ‘no,’ bordering on ‘hell no,’” she said of their reaction.

Lambert joined fellow Republicans Jane Hague, Reagan Dunn and Pete von Reichbauer in voting no on putting the proposal on the general election ballot. (While voters made the council nonpartisan in 2008, members continue to vote along partisan lines on many issues.)

“The economy’s hurting so bad that people don’t have money to pay any extra in taxes,” she said.

The additional sales tax likely won’t have a direct impact on people’s purchasing power, but it could have a negative psychological effect on spending, according to Lew Mandell, an economics professor at University of Washington.

The increase simply adds a little more onto a tax burden that already hits low- to moderate-income households hardest. They typically spend a larger portion of their income on taxable goods and services than do richer people.

“At close to 10 percent, the sales tax is one of the highest in the country. The disparity is already there — this just adds to it,” Mandell said.

Republicans on the County Council wanted to offset the increased sales tax by rolling back property taxes, but couldn’t get enough support for their plan.

They are also upset that the tax measure would move $15 million from road services in unincorporated areas to the sheriff’s office. Already, $4 million of the rural roads program’s $80 million budget supports traffic enforcement by sheriff’s deputies.

The council has protected criminal justice from budget cuts as much as possible, Lambert said.

The sheriff’s office and courts had about 1 percent budget cuts last year.

“At this point, it’s their turn to be looked at and ask where can you cut?” she said.

But the courts have offset would-be budget cuts by increasing fees, Hilyer said.

In effect, the courts have seen money from the county’s general fund decrease by about 12 percent over the past two years, he said.

Labor costs add to budget problems

Both sides agree that rising labor costs are aggravating the situation.

The executive’s office has been in talks with 59 unions representing county employees, asking them to defer guaranteed cost-of-living increases next year. So far, three unions have agreed.

But the budget shortfalls are coming before labor policy reform can be implemented, Hilyer said.

The county’s hands are also tied by the state’s 1 percent cap on how much it can raise property taxes.

“We can’t keep pace with inflation because of that, but our expenses keep going up beyond the rate of inflation,” said Councilwoman Julia Patterson, who voted for the tax proposal.

Bad labor policies and bad budget prioritizing are behind the budget crisis, according to Paul Guppy, vice-president of the Washington Policy Center, a free-market think tank.

The county is putting money toward lower-priority programs and salary increases rather than first fully funding criminal justice, Guppy said.

After several years of deep cuts, only essential programs remain, according to elected officials.

“I don’t think that legally we can do away with the elections office or the executive branch or the assessor’s office,” Patterson said.

Some local officials are concerned that if the tax measure passes, it will make it more difficult for municipalities to ask residents for money to address city issues.

In Snoqualmie, the city needs several million dollars for infrastructure work.

“We have to be pretty measured about what increases we ask citizens for,” Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson said.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.