At the December 1 Kirkland City Council Study Session, annexation and the budget were front and center. With concerns or reservations about annexation expressed by only two councilmembers, it appears that Kirkland will proceed with annexation before the end of the year.
Annexation is on track for passage by the Kirkland City Council. Since annexation received over 50% of the vote in the general election, but did not achieve the required 60% threshold for passage, the council has the ability to accept annexation without the assumption of Kirkland’s debt by the Potential Annexation Area (PAA). The PAA rejected the annexation measure (which included assumption of Kirkland’s debt) by a mere 7 votes in the general election.
The actual annexation vote totals in the general election were as follows:
Ballots Cast/Registered Voters: *10813/19231 (56.23%)
Proposition A Proposed Annexation, Assumption Of Indebtedness, And Adoption Of Zoning Regulations
YES 6291 59.94%
NO 4205 40.06%
Since the annexation ballot measure was rejected by the PAA, the Kirkland City Council has several options before them:
- Do nothing and leave annexation for the next council to address;
- Pass a resolution accepting annexation (with no further action);
- Pass a resolution accepting annexation without indebtedness and pass an ordinance to set the annexation in motion.
At the Study Session, the council chose option number three and directed staff to prepare an ordinance for the council’s December 15 meeting. There were three councilmembers who stressed their desire to complete annexation this year under the current council rather than push the issue off until the next council convenes in January. Two councilmembers expressed concerns or reservations about the costs of annexation and manipulation of the budget, however, they were clearly in the minority.
Additional budget information was discussed at the Study Session. The current economic crisis has hit Kirkland hard. Along with the many Kirkland services which have been cut, the City has cut about 40 full time equivalents (FTEs) and has asked its organized union employees to reduce their salaries. $2.1 million in up-front money is needed to be funded for annexation prior to commencement of annexation in the spring of 2011. This money is needed primarily to ramp-up for public safety needs when annexation is enacted. The state sales tax reimbursement to help the City pay for annexation starts only after annexation commences.
At the regular City Council meeting which followed, King County Councilmember Jane Hague expressed the County’s support for annexation and its commitment to be a partner in annexation. No commitment was made as to any funding which Kirkland may receive from the County.
If the council passes an annexation resolution and ordinance at their December 15 meeting, annexation of the PAA will be set in motion without assumption of Kirkland’s indebtedness.
For all intents and purposes, this action will be final and the discussion about annexation will no longer be IF annexation happens, but HOW we enact annexation and which policies will best serve the whole community. The years of study and preparation will be enacted and focus will turn toward providing city services to the neighborhoods of Kingsgate, North Juanita and Finn Hill in the spring of 2011.
The annexation measure lost by only seven votes. There were over 300 ballots cast in the PAA on which a preference for annexation was not recorded. Had the PAA accepted the city’s debt and passed the annexation measure as it was stated on the ballot, the tax burden for the average current Kirkland household would have been lowered by an estimated $13 per year (declining in time as debt is paid off).
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