The Shoreline City Council unanimously adopted a resolution on September 28, 2009, expressing opposition to Initiative Measure No. 1033 (I-1033) which will appear on the November 3 general election as “Initiative Measure No. 1033 concerns state, county, and city revenue.”
The City Council held a public hearing: six members of the public addressed the Council with four in favor of the resolution and two opposed. I-1033 seeks to limit the growth of state, county and city general fund revenues received from taxes, fees and other charges not expressly approved by the voters.
Recognizing the negative impacts that a similar initiative had in the State of Colorado, which Colorado voters has recently repealed, and the financial difficulties that the State, King County and the City are currently experiencing, the City Council approved the resolution.
As part of the public hearing, the City Council received information from the Finance Department about the financial impact to the City’s general fund, which supports services such as police, jail, community services including emergency management, park maintenance, recreation programs, pool maintenance and programs, human services, planning, facilities, and various support services. With I-1033 the City’s general fund revenues are projected to decrease annually by an average of $1 million through 2015 further impacting the ability of the City to continue providing critical services to the Shoreline community. The City receives 10% of a resident’s total property tax bill, which is used to support general fund services.
I-1033 would apply starting with general revenues received in 2010 with the limit not to exceed the cap based on 2009 revenues, adjusted annually based on any change in population and inflation. For the City of Shoreline, I-1033 would limit any revenue received from a recovery from the current economic recession and new revenue from future developments, resulting in no new revenues to support City services that would be needed to serve the new developments.
The Washington State Department of Revenue estimates the fiscal impact for Washington cities will be a reduction in general fund revenues of $2.1 billion between 2011 and 2015. The Office of Financial Management (OFM) estimates that I-1033 will reduce state general fund revenues that support education; social, health, and environmental services; and general government activities by $5.9 billion by 2015. To view OFM’s “Fiscal Impact Statement of Initiative 1033” visit www.ofm.wa.gov.