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A RESOLUTION relating to the King County Flood Control Zone District property tax levies for collection in 2014; authorizing a property tax levy increasing property tax revenue to implement the District's 2014 work program; and protecting a portion of the District's property tax levy from proration under RCW 84.52.815.
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WHEREAS, every year, King County faces threats from flooding, the impacts of which are far-reaching and pose significant threats to public health and safety and economic activities throughout the County; and
WHEREAS, the one hundred-year floodplain in King County covers more than twenty-five thousand acres or almost forty square miles and more than 500 flood protection facilities throughout the County protect property with an estimated assessed valuation of more than $7 billion; and
WHEREAS, flood control facilities provide vital protection to the regional economy; and
WHEREAS, one of the most fundamental functions of government is to protect citizens and public and private property from the ravages of natural disasters such as flooding; and
WHEREAS, beginning in 2013, the District started to conduct corridor planning studies in five key river corridors, to better assess both current conditions and update capital program planning to reflect project needs in each corridor; and
WHEREAS, although the corridor planning studies are to be completed in 2014 and 2015, the early needs assessments performed for each corridor plan indicate that a much larger capital project need exists to address deficiencies that are now being identified, than had earlier been thought to be the case; and
WHEREAS, the early focus of the District capital program has been upon larger projects along the mainstem river corridors, and thus the capital needs for more localized flooding or surface water projects have largely been unmet; and
WHEREAS, the District seeks to rectify this unmet need, through a grant program that will focus upon localized flooding and surface water needs; and
WHEREAS, since its inception, the District has through the Subregional Opportunity Fund, provided a pro-rata funding for flooding-related capital projects and programs undertaken by each local jurisdiction within King County, equal to ten percent of District revenues, minus contributions to the Water Resource Inventory Areas ("WRIAs").
WHEREAS, the District recognizes that its contribution to the Subregional Opportunity Fund is well below the established funding needs and desires to increase its contributions to the respective jurisdictions, and to establish a minimum contribution amount of ten thousand dollars for each jurisdiction; and
WHEREAS, beginning in its 2012 budget, the District provided grant funding for capital projects and programs undertaken by the WRIAs designed to aid in the efforts of salmon recovery in Puget Sound; and
WHEREAS, the District recognizes that its contribution to salmon-recovery efforts is well below the established funding needs and desires to increase its contributions to the respective WRIAs, and to adjust said increases to reflect inflation; and
WHEREAS, the District seeks to increase its revenues starting in 2014, through a three cent increase in levy rates; and
WHEREAS, in the past the District had been subject to the $5.90 levy lid, wherein the combined taxes of all taxing jurisdictions could not total in excess of that amount, and could be subject to levy "suppression" if said amount was exceeded; and
WHEREAS, for the 2011 budget year, the District was required to enter into agreements with other special taxing districts in order to preserve its tax levying authority, and these agreements effectively resulted in reduced funding of the District capital programs by $8,500,000; and
WHEREAS, for its 2012 budget, the District was afforded protection by the state legislature from the levy lid for collections less than twenty-five cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, until the year 2018; and
WHEREAS, the District cannot assume that such levy lid protection will be extended by the state legislature beyond the current end date, and wishes to accumulate the revenues necessary to implement the capital improvements that will be identified through the respective corridor planning processes; and
WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors ("Board"), after holding a hearing and after duly considering all relevant evidence and testimony presented, desires that the District increase its property tax revenue from the previous year by one percent, in addition to the additional amounts permitted under RCW 84.55.010, if any, resulting from the addition of new construction and improvements to the property, newly constructed wind turbines, and any increase in the value of state-assessed property, in order to implement the 2014 work program in the best interests of the King County Flood Control Zone District ("District) and to meet the expected expenses and obligations of the District; and
WHEREAS, the Board finds it necessary to protect the District's property tax levy from prorationing by imposing up to $0.25 per $1,000 of assessed value of the levy outside of the $5.90 per $1,000 assessed value limitation under RCW 84.52.043(2); now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE KING COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL ZONE DISTRICT:
SECTION 1. An increase in the regular property tax levy, in addition to the additional amounts permitted under RCW 84.55.010, if any, resulting from the addition of new construction and improvements to property, newly constructed wind turbines, and any increase in the value of state-assessed property is hereby authorized for the 2014 levy in the amount of $10,220,488, which is a percentage increase of approximately twenty four and seventy-two hundredth percent from the previous year. The Board of Supervisors hereby certifies the amount of regular property taxes to be levied for collection in 2014 is $52,108,158.
SECTION 2. Pursuant to RCW 84.52.815, the Board desires to protect the District's 2014 regular property tax levy from prorationing by imposing up to $0.25 per $1,000 of assessed value of the levy outside of the $5.90 per $1,000 assessed value limitation for purposes of RCW 84.52.010 and .043.
SECTION 3. As authorized by RCW 84.55.092, the Board continues to reserve the District's "banked capacity" for future regular levies of the District.