Basin leaders meet to talk I-864

Serious effects of possible initiative loom large for several cities

Basin city leaders met Monday during the Othello city council to discuss the effects Initiative 864 may have on their cities' revenues if the proposal passes in November.

Initiative 864, for which signatures are still being gathered, is being advertised as a 25 percent cut on the local governments' property tax and as a way for city and county governments to straighten up their act by having to do more with less.

City leaders see it as an initiative that will have devastating consequences if it passes.

Stan Finkelstein from the Association of Washington Cities said people are deluding themselves if they think they are going to receive a 25 percent cut on their property tax if and when I-864 passes.

This, he said, is because the 25 percent cut is a cut from the property taxation that can be affected by this initiative, which is about 40 percent of the total property tax.

Therefore, the cut is a 25 percent slice off that 40 percent, which amounts to about 10 percent of the total tax.

The remaining 60 percent is split among school, state and emergency services levies and property taxes, which are not affected by this proposal.

The affected 40 percent includes fire districts (partially) and library districts, he said, as well as city property taxes and county property taxes. Revenue losses on average are of six percent for cities and 11 percent for counties.

Public services are going to take the biggest hit, if I-864 passes, Finkelstein warned, as they take up a big chunk of the average city general fund. Several cities will have to figure out whether they can stay in business or if they will have to disincorporate and become part of their county, which will then receive additional responsibilities without the revenue lost to I-864.

Othello mayor Jeannie Sanders said she feared citizens would not understand what a cut on their property taxes would do to the public safety services they rely on.

"They hear '25 percent cut,'" she said. "They don't hear 'services cut.'"

If I-864 passes, her city would face losses of more than $200,000, she said, adding that that is more than the city can take without making serious cuts. Fifty-two percent of that amount is related the police department.

"Where would we take that (cut) from?," Othello Police Chief Ron Axtman asked. "Probably both expenditures and salaries. It will be serious."

Othello is not alone on the lean times ship. Warden stands to lose $70,000 if the initiative passes.

"That's payroll, cut hours, and the water park I want to build," mayor Roldan Capetillo said.

Ephrata is running on a budget with 12 to 15 percent cuts already, councilwoman Kathleen Alstott said. If voters approve I-864, "we will be below bare bones."

Moses Lake faces losses of more than half a million dollars. City councilman Dick Deane said something has got to be done.

"We can't allow our city to dry up and blow away just because somebody decided to create a new horizon that would destroy everything we built," he said. "We need to be proactive."

Three days before anti-tax crusader Tim Eyman has to turn in his signatures to put the initiative on the ballot, not all is lost, Finkelstein said.

Finkelstein said that after a string of successfully supported initiatives, Eyman is finding that I-864 is a slightly tougher sell among the constituents.

Tina Clark, from the office of the Secretary of State, agreed with Finkelstein's words, saying that though Eyman had presented more than 200,000 signatures for Initiative 892, the man behind I-864 had been "evasive" when asked if he had enough signatures for it.

"We don't know if he does," Clark said, adding that it takes at least two weeks after the signatures are presented to verify whether those who signed are valid registered voters.

The reasons behind Eyman's difficulties, Finkelstein said, are several.

First, the fact that several sectors and institutions, from public labor and municipal employees to the AWC itself, have gone out and opposed the initiative, going as far as talking to people who come to sign for it about the effects of the proposal.

Second, Finkelstein said, the financial backers of Eyman's other pet project, I-892, most of whom belong to the non-tribal gambling industry of the state, had been "leaning" on the tax foe.

"They are saying, 'We are paying you a lot of money,'" he said. "'Pay attention to us.'"

Eyman's subsequent focus on I-892, and the opposition to it from several areas has Finkelstein guardedly optimistic that Eyman's property tax proposal will not make it to the November ballot.

On the other hand, Finkelstein said that anti-tax initiatives are hard to defeat if they make it to the ballot.

If I-864 does not gather enough support, cities must not rest on their laurels, Capetillo said, warning that failure to get the initiative on the ballot will only spur Eyman to try harder and come back stronger next year.