The Seattle Times is reporting that Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and the City Council have decided to delay an annexation of the White Center area until at least 2011 because paying for services there would be so expensive.
According to the Times:
Annexing the area, part of the North Highline annexation area, could cost Seattle $12.6 million a year more than it would generate in new taxes, plus $8.7 million in one-time costs, according to a preliminary analysis by the city Budget Office. The area has about 20,000 residents.
With the city facing a $50 million shortfall in its general fund, the mayor decided to withdraw his earlier recommendation and campaign promise that residents of that area vote this fall on whether they want to join Seattle.
An analysis was presented Friday (March 19) to the council’s Regional Development and Sustainability Committee, and reports are that council members said the presentation was the first real cost estimate they had seen.
We’ll see how the City of Burien responds to this news. Keep in mind that Burien’s annexation of southern North Highline goes into effect April 1st.
Read the Times full story here.
If Seattle can’t afford to annex White Center, with 600,000 taxpayers and tax revenues from business and industry, how can a tiny bedroom community like Burien afford to annex this area?
Exactly what I was thinking too Mike.
Oopps… Jim. Sorry.
There are two things that come right to mind. 1. The City of Seattle provide Fire & Medic services, 2. they provide library services,as well as, They also provide water
The City of Seattle also proves some money to the school distric.
It would be interting though for the differeces to be listed
According to a Seattle City Council member who spoke to a trade group that my husband belongs to yesterday, the crime rate in “area y” is six times higher than elsewhere in Seattle. Another reason Seattle is NOT interested.
Area Y? Well then, According to King County Sheriff’s Office who has juristriction there, the crime rate is very much lower than Seattle City Limits which is just across the border from area Y. Your information Julie is incorrect and it takes a simple call to KCSO to verify it. Some like to blow up a 6 x’s figure or more so for who knows why, but it is false information.
In fact area Y’s crime rates statistically are even lower than Burien’s last time I checked.
It would be nice to know the Seattle City Council member you are referring to so that we could pass this info onto them so that they could also verify it and be informed.
Further more, crime is NOT obviously their #1 concern or they would have their facts straight on the stats and implement strategies to help curb their higher crime rates.
For those of us that live in area Y, we understand this very well.
http://www.kingcounty.gov/safety/sheriff/CrimeStats.aspx
Look here to find all the crime stats for PAA areas. I actually don’t see Area “Y” here for precinct #4. Or am I confused about the boundries? Also It would be nice to see a more recent report than 2008.
Here are stats for portions of Area Y (Feb 2010):
Area Map (K127):
http://your.kingcounty.gov/CrimeStats/WebGroup.aspxTy=G&id=K127&sDate=2/1/2010&eDate=2/28/2010
K1:
http://your.kingcounty.gov/CrimeStats/WebDistricts.aspxTy=D&id=K1&sDate=2/1/2010&eDate=2/28/2010
K2:
http://your.kingcounty.gov/CrimeStats/WebDistricts.aspxTy=D&id=K2&sDate=2/1/2010&eDate=2/28/2010
K7:
http://your.kingcounty.gov/CrimeStats/WebDistricts.aspxTy=D&id=K7&sDate=2/1/2010&eDate=2/28/2010
Hmm…not sure why the links I just posted aren’t working.
Perhaps this link will work better: http://your.kingcounty.gov/CrimeStats/
To the right of the map, select Patrol Districts K1, K2 and K7 (Search Option #3).
So if I look at the most current stats(2010) from what “KD” posted area K1 a.k.a. Area “Y”. From 1/1/2010 to 2/2/2010 had an average HIGHER rate of crime per capita than any area in Burien. Or am I reading this wrong?
OH X Cuse Me… I said I haven’t checked in awhile, I believe I was MORE concerned with SPD stats, but thank ya’ll for contributin. Apperciate it.
You are reading it right but that is 1 month compared to a year or more. You will see the overall crime rate for area Y is much lower than Seattle and in many months lower than Burien.
The White Center Homeowners Association attended the Seattle committee meeting last Friday on annexation. Seattle is considering a bare bones budget that would add seven additional police officers, a 5-person gang unit just for the area, a three-person burglary/juvenile unit, and one additional community service officer, when compared to what we have now. Seattle will also add a Medic 1 heart attack unit in White Center. These were the basic bare bones estimates, and would be a substantial improvement in the level of public safety services we now have. Their high end estimates were even better. The challenge we have in White Center is that Burien offers to “keep everything the same” which seems rather silly when you see what Seattle is considering if they move forward with an annexaton vote. Also, the property tax rate for Burien and Seattle is almost exactly the same. As was mentioned at the meeting, not one Seattle neighborhood pays its own way, and they all are funded in part by the large downtown business district. Get the facts; Seattle annexation of White Center is better for White Center and better for Burien as well. Now if Burien will only keep its agreement that Seattle, Burien and the two fire commissions signed last year, White Center can have its Seattle annexation vote and see what happens.
Mark Ufkes
White Center Homeowners Association
markufkes@comcast.net