The City of Burien is seeking to hire a “new, top-notch Economic Development Manager,” following Dick Loman’s retirement.

Pay is $6,798 – $8,263 per month depending on experience, with a “first review” of applicants scheduled for Aug. 30th.

According to the job application (download PDF file here) this position’s responsibilities include:

Plans, organizes and directs activities to enhance economic development in Burien. The Manager is responsible for the development, recommendation and implementation of policies, programs and procedures that accomplish the City Council’s goals and objectives to ensure the economic health and vitality of the City.

Essential Functions:

• Supports and models the identified vision, values and behaviors of the organization.
• Develops and implements short- and long-term economic development strategies, public/private partnerships for development, and business assistance programs for existing and prospective businesses. Recommends adjustments to programs, activities, policies and procedures to further economic development goals.
• Develops and implements a business recruitment and retention campaign and marketing strategy.
• Serves as a “broker” in recruiting and assisting businesses interested in locating in Burien to identify suitable properties for their enterprises.
• Negotiates the acquisition/disposition or lease of properties needed for economic development projects.
• Meets with affected property owners in potential economic development areas to assess and coordinate the City’s economic development efforts.
• Participates in special business community events to promote business development and vitality.
• Serves as the City liaison to the business community, chamber of commerce, economic development planning advisory boards, economic development agencies, and governmental agencies in furthering the City’s economic development policies. Presents proposed programs and projects to business community groups, agencies and the City Council.
• Prepares, administers, and monitors division budget. Oversees and monitors contracts related to Economic Development.
• Prepares and analyzes technical and administrative reports and documents.
• Researches, analyzes and reports on economic and market trends.
• Establishes and maintains effective work relationships with the business community, advisory groups, other governmental agencies, citizen groups and citizens.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

“Applicants will be evaluated on the basis of education and work experience,” reads the app. “Highly qualified candidates may be invited to participate in interviews. Candidates may be asked to respond to supplemental questions in writing and may be asked to supply illustrative examples of work. A test may also be administered to assess relevant skills. Additional references may be requested of finalists.”

TO APPLY
Applications are available online here. Candidates must submit a City of Burien employment application form, resume and cover letter online or to City of Burien, Attn: Human Resources, 400 SW 152nd Street, Suite 300, Burien, WA 98166. If you need special accommodation in the application or examination process, please contact Human Resources at (206) 248-5504.

Rep. Adam Smith, who represents the 9th District, will be holding a ‘Budget Town Hall’ at Burien City Hall this Thursday night, Aug. 25th, starting at 7 p.m.

However, please note that space is limited and attendees are encouraged to RSVP. If you’d like to attend, please call 253.593.6600 or email rsvpsmith@mail.house.gov.

This will be a “Town Hall discussion on the national budget, debt reduction, and economic recovery,” according to Smith’s website.

Washington’s 9th Congressional District includes parts of King, Pierce and Thurston Counties, including the Burien area.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Town Hall discussion on the national budget, debt reduction, and economic recovery with U.S. Congressman Adam Smith and Ninth District community

WHEN: 7:00 PM, Thursday, August 25th, 2011

WHERE: Burien City Council Chambers, 400 SW 152nd St., in Burien Town Square. Council Chambers are on ground floor of City Hall/Library building.

RSVP: Attendees are encouraged to RSVP, please call 253.593.6600 or email rrsvpsmith@mail.house.gov

Burien Mayor Joan McGilton.

by Ralph Nichols

Things are looking better in three Highline communities, the mayors of these cities said recently during their annual updates to members of the Southwest King County Chamber of Commerce.

Burien Mayor Joan McGilton, Tukwila Mayor Jim Haggerton, and SeaTac Mayor Terry Anderson all pointed to signs that indicate these local economies are improving.

Despite ongoing uncertainty about the future of the all-but-vacant Town Square condominium/retail complex, Burien has “had some real successes,” McGilton said.

Instead of remaining empty, a lot of vacant retail spaces are sprouting businesses,” she noted. “New businesses are moving in all the time.”

These include the Car Pros’ Nissan dealership (“Can you imagine a new Nissan dealership in this economy?”), Grand Central Bakery, and a Ross clothing store (“We haven’t had a clothing store in Burien since Gottschalks closed”).

The Town Square complex situation is out of Burien’s hands, McGilton said. “Unfortunately, the FDIC got involved when the Great Recession came along. It’s of great concern to us,” despite the fact that “the city has no financial interest” in the two-year-old building.

“The good news is that we have Town Square, which is being used all the time,” she continued. “I have great hope that we’re moving in the right direction. Things are just really looking up for Burien.”

Tukwila Mayor Jim Haggerton said the fact that local sales tax revenue is “slightly better” over the last five months, after a steady decline in 2009-10, “is evidence that things have bottomed out.”

In addition to this encouraging news, Tukwila has seen a 22 percent increase in building permits and a 52 percent increase in new building value – and “371 new businesses are coming in,” Haggerton noted.

But Tukwila is “more than South Center,” he added. “Tukwila is a lot about parks and greenery and trails … a lot of people don’t know that.”

Focusing again on economic growth, Haggerton said groundwork will be underway “before long” to get Tukwila South ready for development.

Tukwila Mayor Jim Haggerton, left, and SeaTac Mayor Terry Anderson talk at the SWKCC Mayor's Luncheon.

Additional development activity is in progress along East Marginal Way, while “new developers are interested in … Tukwila Village at S. 140th Street and Tukwila International Boulevard.”

The city, also looking beyond its boundaries, is engaged in “an extensive process” of studying whether the Tukwila Fire Department should join the Kent Regional Fire Authority,” he said.

SeaTac Mayor Terry Anderson said “2010 was a good year for economic development” there, with “10,000 square feet of vacant space leased [and] new jobs were created.” These range “from retail to service to warehousing to hospitality.”

With an “upward trend in sales, lodging and property tax revenues … prospects for 2011 are bright,” Anderson continued.

Making community life even better is “a decline in the number and severity of crimes.” Contracting with the King County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement services is “one of the best decisions we’ve made.”

And the “camaraderie with Burien is terrific,” she observed. Burien also contracts for law enforcement services with the sheriff’s office.

Anderson said she is “especially proud” of SeaTac’s parks – and also pointed with pride to the fiscal stability of the city, which has sustained no cuts in programs or services.

SeaTac has a “vision of redevelopment” that includes technological enterprises and tapping its potential as a transportation hub, as well as “collaborating with the Port of Seattle on development opportunities.”

Benson's Best Bites has closed.

Benson’s Best Bites, a specialty food store located in Normandy Park’s Manhattan Village shopping complex (near QFC), has closed.

Open since October 2008, and owned by Ezra and Loie Benson, the closing was unannounced, as far as we know.

A sign taped to the window reads:

Dear Customers:

Thank you! You have been the best part of our business! You are genuinely nice people whose friendship we value. We will miss you!

We’re sorry that we’re not able to continue with our little business.

Have a great summer! We hope to see you around the neighborhood.

Thanks again!
Ezra & Loie Benson

We called the number listed on their website, but it appears to have been disconnected.

Benson’s featured specialty cheeses, fresh baked breads, donuts, pastries and home-style soups along with Saturday specialties of garlic fries, big shrimp, corn dogs and crepes and more.

At one time, they were an Advertiser on the blog as well; here’s some info from their Blogvertorial:

The Benson family’s long-standing fascination with world foods combined with Ezra’s retail history (he managed the advertising and printing for Benson’s Fashions in Des Moines for 35 years) inspired them to open Best Bites in October 2008.

Ezra & Loie are better known for their unique honor-system, treasure-chest business, Boundary Pass Trader’s NW, which they have operated for 15 summers on Stuart Island, a remote island in the San Juan Islands.

According to an email we received from Alan McGuire, Co Owner of BTB Advertiser Lavina Mays, which is located across the street:

Normandy Park is losing businesses like crazy.

Abruzzi’s Pizza, A Perfect Party and now Benson’s.

People need to support their local businesses or they will be gone!

"Christmas was good. January was really bad and February was just awful," said Zizia owner Anna Vornbrock, who will close the doors to her shop 'Zizia' on April 2nd.

Story by Janet Grella
Photos by Kristen Kerns

If Tuesday was any indication, Zizia will be closed before planned (Saturday, April 2nd).

Anna Vornbrock, owner of Zizia in Olde Burien, said she was “slammed” March 1st, the first day of her going-out-of-business sale. Quite surprisingly, the bulk of her first day sales were her displays, which will remain in place until the store closes.

“I hadn’t planned on going out of business, so I still have new merchandise rolling in,” Anna said. “I’ve got plenty of merchandise to support the sale for a few weeks.”

Going out of business was as much a surprise to Anna as it was to her customers who learned it through an email blast over the weekend as well as voice mail on Zizia’s answering service:

It is with great sadness that I announce the closure of Zizia. I have always loved the quality of handmade products and had hoped that it would translate to my customer base, but with the economy struggling, I have found business slowing down too much to move forward. I have really enjoyed getting to meet all my fabulous customers, watching their families grow up, and spending time with you all.

“Christmas was good. January was really bad and February was just awful,” Anna explained. “Things were going backwards. I just made the decision to close a week ago. I decided to capitalize and get out while I could.”

But she’s going out with a smile.

“I know I should feel sad, but I’ve learned a lot and know a lot of great customers. I wish the economy would be better, but I don’t have the super powers to change it,” she said with a smile.

What’s next for Anna? Well, she’s got a 15-year old son at Mt. Rainier High School who’s involved in band and soon drivers training, so she needs to devote some quality Mom time (a job she proudly held for 13 years before opening Zizia in 2007). She’s going to chill out in Vegas and go to Mother’s Day weekend at WSU with her college-aged son. She hopes to obtain a part-time job in outside sales, where she worked for 15 years before starting her family.

Anna gives ‘hats off’ to her landlord, Lola of the Danish Bakery. She also told us that other folks are lined up for the space, so it won’t be empty long. In her final goodbye to the block she encourages local people to shop local, keep your money local.

In the meantime, she’s still running Zizia, which is located on SW 152nd and 9th in Olde Burien. Here’s Zizia’s going out of business schedule from their email blast to current customers:

by Ralph Nichols

Tom Salle’s repeated comment to customers at his meat counter says it all.

So does a message posted on printer paper around the store.

Bernie and Boys, a local fixture in Burien and Tukwila since 1937, which has been located at 11225 1st Ave. S. for the last 16 years, is going out of business.

When asked for some cuts of meat, Tom tells his customers, “I’m out” – or running out – “of the product.” It won’t be resupplied.

The 8½ x 11 notices inform shoppers:

“We will no longer be offering a weekly ad and we will not be able to honor the coupon book that was mailed to some of our customers. Thank you for shopping at Bernie and Boys.”

Tom confirmed the pending closure to The B-Town Blog on Friday, Feb. 4. They are selling and not restocking perishables.

And a 20 percent off sale on the rest of the store’s merchandise will begin Monday (Feb. 7).

The slumping economy is a major culprit, and “there’s not enough business at this site for a building this size,” Tom said.

Their electrical bill alone was $7,000-$9,000 a month, “so we installed more efficient lighting. Then the power rates went up.”

After closing this location, Tom Salle said "we want to open a meat shop" as part of a specialty store.

And when neighboring public housing was closed, they lost 200 families who were customers. “They didn’t have a lot of money but it was steady money,” he noted.

Now Bernie and Boys has also lost its lease because the landlord put the property up for sale.

“It’s sad,” Tom continued. “We have such a good corps of customers. We’re going to miss them, but they’re really going to miss us.”

In addition to providing true neighborhood service for customers over the decades, Bernie and Boys also supported the community, including the annual Classy Chassis auto show, fundraisers at Kennedy and Evergreen high schools, and special events in the Italian community.

But this family business will continue. Tom and his brother Joe will downsize at a new – as yet undetermined – location.

“We want to open a meat shop” as part of a specialty shop, he said. They don’t know what yet. “It depends on our location and the size of the building.” And they’re not sure if they will locate within the Highline area.

Home delivery or internet sales are two possibilities, and Joe does a lot of catering.

Their father, Bernardo “Bernie” Salle, the original “Live Butcher,” died in 2004. His Italian immigrant parents, Nunzio and Carmella Salle, opened Salle’s Grocery at 13003 Pacific Highway S. in 1937.

In 1995, the family opened Bernie and Boys in north Burien, and closed the original store five years later.

View Larger Map

by Nicholas Johnson

Jim Todd, 71, and his wife Karen, 63, sit side-by-side in computer chairs, each roaming the Internet on their respective computers. Karen sits back as she picks up a lit Swisher Sweets cigar from the ashtray on her desk and takes a drag – it’s the third one she’s had today. Jim lights up as well and the 10-foot by 10-foot room fills with smoke, illuminated by dim sun rays pouring in from between the blinds that cover the room’s only window.

The grey-haired couple spends most days right here – in a cluttered, cramped, ground-floor apartment on the south end of White Center, Wash. They call it home, smoke-stained walls and all. And, for the past month, Jim’s nephew Vern and his wife Melissa have called the living room home. They moved in after losing their fifth-wheel trailer.

Two small dogs and a parrot named “Patty Bird” also call the apartment home. Patty Bird sits perched in a cage in the corner of the room, bird seed spilling out onto the floor. Boxes, clothes, pairs of shoes and other odds and ends fill about half the room, leaving little space to walk. When Jim married Karen 30 years ago, the two put their combined belongings into storage. But, with fewer dollars to dedicate toward storage rent, those belongings found their way into the apartment they’ve shared for the past 12 years.

Wearing dirt-smudged jeans and a blue T-shirt that reads “D.A.R.E. DASH” in bold, red letters, Jim fidgets with the hearing aid in his right ear. He touches his chin for a moment – covered in white stubbles of hair – and as he does, his wedding band catches the light. He wears it proudly, and says it was long in God’s plans that he and Karen would be together. Before Karen, Jim had been married for more than 17 years until his wife suffered a heart attack while grocery shopping.

“It was like God said, ‘I’ve given you this woman for so many years, but this woman is sitting over here waiting to come in’,” he says slowly and quietly. “It was all made before we ever got here. It was all set up.”

Although these two have their problems – especially since Jim has been out of work – they’ve never stopped looking for ways to pick themselves up. Jim has a plan, but first he needs $6,000 in start-up money. He dreams of owning and operating a cotton candy machine – in fact, he’s got it all picked out. Someday, he’d like to sell cotton candy to children at Seahurst Park; but for now, he’s just concerned about getting on his feet.

“I’m just trying to get ahead,” Jim says. “I don’t want to be a burden on society. I want to be my own support.”

Karen agrees.

“We’d all like something better than what we have,” she says. “Some people are satisfied just to be somewhere and stay there. If you have any drive at all you want to better yourself, you want to do something else. You want to progress a little bit; you don’t want to just stay where you’re at. You don’t want to get into a rut and stay there.”

Food stamps and stinky ears
Currently living off of monthly Social Security checks and food stamps, the Todd’s struggle to afford food and rarely leave their room. The two receive $92 in food stamps each month from the state’s Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).

“At $92, we can go ten days between us spending $9 a day for us to eat on,” Jim says, indicating that he’s done the math. “And the rest of the month we’re going to starve.”

Social Security pays Jim $881 a month, half of which goes toward rent, which is reduced with the help of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Housing Choice Voucher Program, otherwise known as Section 8. With Karen’s $403 Social Security check and what remains of his, Jim pays the utility bill and other expenses throughout each month.

Income, however, is not their only problem.

At 58, Jim was working in security. That’s when he began to develop an ear infection. He eventually lost 93 percent of his hearing in the left ear and 86 percent in the right. As a result he lost his job, and his ear infection remained.

“They’re always running and draining and stinking and whatever,” he says.

Jim’s doctor recommended hearing aids for both ears, but DSHS would only cover the cost of one hearing aid – for his better ear.

More recently, Jim says he has a cataract in his eye that will need operation soon.

Getting older and getting rejected
For the next few years Jim worked as a Union Pacific Railroad crew hauler between Seattle and Portland. He’d drive out to Chehalis or Cosmopolis or any other city along the tracks to pick up Union Pacific Railroad crews when their shifts ended. Labor laws stipulate that railroad crews work an eight-hour shift – no shorter, no longer – and often these crews’ shifts end miles away from home.

When he lost that job, finding another became harder than he could’ve imagined.

“I have worked and supported my family,” he says in his deep, scratchy voice. “But in the past couple of years it has all been on a downhill slide. As I get older I am finding it harder to find a job. People don’t tell me they won’t hire me because I’m old, but that’s how it is.”

He knows his hearing makes job interviews a hassle, and he doesn’t blame the interviewer when he never receives a call back. He says, “It’s not their fault.”

For nearly ten years Jim has been out of work, and he absolutely hates it.

“I want to get up and do something,” he says as his voice breaks and a tear forms in the corner of his eye. “I’m tired of not being out working and supporting my family and bringing stuff in. I’m tired of my wife having to sit around 24 hours a day and not being able to go out and do anything or spend any money or have any freedom. And I want to do it myself. I don’t know where else to go.”

Trying something new
Over the last few years, Jim has sat at Seahurst Park in Burien selling photos he takes while at the beach. Jim and Karen collaborate on greeting cards – self-written, self-printed, self-folded and self-sold – which they call “off the wall” because of their quirky humor. Jim has even sought small grants, but he gave up when he realized most are aimed at women and minority groups.

With a room full of stuff and a keyboard at his fingertips, Jim has tried selling such things as a pair of CB radios on Craigslist. He wasn’t having much luck, so he figured if no one was interested in paying for what he had to offer, he might try a new route.

After seeing a video on ABC’s news website about a 26-year-old Canadian man who traded one red paper clip for a house in Kipling, Saskatchewan about four years earlier, Jim decided he may as well try “trading up,” too.

Kyle MacDonald traveled the country, checking his e-mail and making trades as he went. After 14 trades, MacDonald had a house – and an adventure to share with the world. Of course he wrote a book, and now appears on talk shows and gives motivational speeches.

In July of this year a 17-year-old California high school student managed to trade his old cell phone for a 2000 Porsche Boxster S, a process that took two years and 14 trades. When questioned by his friends, he said such successful bartering takes time and patience.

Surely, stories of successful Craigslist bartering have prompted many to take the first step: posting a paperclip, an old cell phone or, in Jim’s case, four paper binders:

But when Jim took that first step on Sept. 24, it didn’t take long for an unknown person to flag his post and send a hate-filled e-mail saying, “just because one guy did it with a paper clip, you think you can do it?”

“I wasn’t trying to defraud anybody,” he says. “It’s not like I was offering nothing. I don’t know what appeals to you and you don’t know what appeals to me, so how do I know what might appeal to somebody else?”

Eventually he stopped reposting the paper binders, mostly due to continued harassment from the unknown flagger. But on Oct. 19, Jim posted a new item: a Mini Maglite flashlight (click here to see the ad):

Independent all his life
Although the same person flagged it once again, Jim reposted the flashlight and his post has remained untouched since. Jim says he feels the anonymous flagger thinks he is looking for a free ride, an easy way out.

“If there’s one thing I hate it’s somebody thinking I’m going to have to be dependent on them,” he says. “I don’t want to be dependent. I’ve been independent pretty much all my life.”

Jim grew up in Alexandria, Va. His father died when Jim was eight years old, leaving him to care for his three-year-old sister. By the time Jim was 13 years old he had moved to Burien and joined the 1954 inaugural class at Sylvester Middle School.

“We used to ride on drags behind a tractor weighting down on the pallets moving up the rocks and leveling out the field,” Jim says with pride. “All those little trees around Sylvester, we planted all those, our science class did.”

He attended Highline High School during the 1950s, and by 1958 he left to finish his schooling with the U.S. Navy. Now, after years of working security and managing convenience stores, Jim has found himself asking for help from others – something he’s managed to avoid most of his life.

“All I want to do is get ahead myself, and maybe someday I can help somebody else get ahead too,” he says, with eyes wide. “You can rest assured in turn I’d be helping someone else down the line; it wouldn’t stop with me.

“I don’t want anybody to give me something for nothing. If I can get it, I’m willing to pay it back. I don’t want a hand out; I just want a hand up.”

If you have something you’d trade for Jim’s Mini Maglite, please click here to email us – we’ll not only connect you with Jim, but we’ll post progress reports as he attempts to “trade up.”

Come on Burien – let’s give this couple a helping hand!

by Ralph Nichols

Burien had “a great sale” of bonds on Aug. 16 totaling about $8.7 million to pay for the first phase of the city wide asphalt overlay project, city council members were told at their meeting that evening.

City Manager Mike Martin reported that Burien’s credit rating – and those of other cities – has been raised from A3 to A1 because “the bond market sees cities … as a good risk because they are unlikely to default.”

But this “good risk” status has not been extended “for those cities with financial problems,” Martin added.

Phase one of Burien’s 20-year, $19.4 asphalt overlay program is expected to begin on Ambaum Blvd. SW in late September. Work on the initial phase will continue for the rest of this construction season and throughout the 2011 construction season,

Two-inch asphalt overlays will be placed on more than 260 lane miles to restore and maintain city streets at an average Pavement Condition Index level of 80 percent. The current average condition of local streets is 68 percent.

A total of $2 million in limited tax general obligation bonds were sold, along with $6.71 million in taxable Build America Bonds.

“We’re not in the same circumstances as a lot of other cities,” Martin recently told city council members. “We’re not rich but our situation is good … council policies have us standing in good stead.”

In a cover letter to prospective bond buyers, Moody’s seemed to agree with Martin’s evaluation, giving Burien’s economy a good review and expressed confidence in the city’s current financial position.

“The city is a mature residential community which benefits from its location in the Puget Sound area and proximity to downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac Airport … between 2004 and 2009 the city’s assessed value increased a healthy 8.9% annually supported by mostly in-fill construction given the city’s mostly built-out status.”

Although assessed value declined 15 percent this year “due to the regional slowdown in construction activity combined with falling housing and condominium prices,” assessed value “is still somewhat sizeable at $3.6 billion.”

This year’s annexation of the southern part of the North Highline unincorporated area increased assessed value of property in Burien “by almost $1.1 billion (about 30%). Prior to the annexation, the city was essentially built out.

“Now, combined with ongoing downtown redevelopment projects, the additional developable land should help make it an increasingly attractive location given local growth management laws and overall development constraints in the Seattle area.”

Moody’s based the A1 rating “primarily on the city’s moderately sized tax base … manageable debt levels, and conservative financial management.”

Burien’s “direct debt burden is low, at 0.7%” although its “overall debt burden is well above average at 4.1%.” This difference is primarily due to “overlapping [Highline] school district debt.”

Debt service on outstanding city limited tax general obligation bonds totals 12.9 percent of general fund revenue annually – and Burien “does not plan to issue additional debt within the next three to five years,” the letter continued.

Moody’s assessment found that “city finances are characterized by conservative fiscal policies and careful budgeting practices. The city’s formal reserve policy … calls for a reserve of no less than 10 %. Since fiscal 2006, the city’s general fund balance has been well above this level.”

Burien’s general fund is “supported by a relatively diverse revenue stream including sales taxes (30%), property taxes (28%), and utility taxes (18%)” and, Moody’s reported, city government implemented budget cuts including across the board spending reductions” in response to a drop in sales tax revenue in 2009.

In addition to Ambaum Blvd. between SW 112th and SW 156th streets, phase one work will include asphalt overlays on 4th Ave. SW between SW 154th and 156th streets, S/SW 128th St. between Des Moines Memorial Drive and Ambaum, and SW 148th St. between Ambaum and 4th Ave. SW.

Except for Ambaum, this work will be done in 2011.

A $10 vehicle license tab fee will generate $300,000 to pay for the ongoing project beyond 2011, along with savings the city will realize by doing in-house some programs previously done by King County providing the rest of the money annually.

by Ralph Nichols

“The city is in good, stable financial condition” as work begins on Burien’s 2011-12 biennial budget, interim Finance Director Gary Coleman recently reported to council members.

“We’re holding our own. We’re doing just fine,” City Manager Mike Martin added. Past council policies have the city “standing in good stead” despite the current recession.

“Things could change,” Martin allowed. “But we have ways of dealing with things if they do.”

Burien switched from annual to biennial budgeting for 2009-10 and, after the impact of the recession became apparent in mid-2009, the city council made budget reductions and for the remainder of last year. Additional adjustments for 2010 were made later.

Anticipated revenues for the two-year period that begins Jan. 1 total $57.1 million, Coleman said.

Sources of income:

• Taxes – $42.9 million, 75 percent
• Fees for services – $7 million, 12 percent
• Licenses, permits and franchise – $2.9 million, 5 percent
• Intergovernmental agreements – $2.9 million, 5 percent
• Special assessments – $2.3 million, 1 percent
• Miscellaneous revenue – $1.3 million, 2 percent

Estimated property tax receipts account for the largest share of tax revenue – $14.3 million, 33 percent – followed by sales taxes – $13.1 million, 31 percent.

Additional estimated tax revenue:

• Utility taxes – $7.2 million, 17 percent
• B&O (business and occupancy) taxes – $1.7 million, 4 percent
• Motor Vehicle Excise Tax – $2.2 million, 5 percent
• Real Estate Excise Tax – $1.3 million, 3 percent
• Gambling taxes – $1.2 million, 3 percent
• Transportation Benefit District – $600,000, 1 percent
• Other taxes – $1.3 million, 3 percent

The first draft of the 2011-12 Burien budget for city council discussion projects general fund expenditures of $52.7 million, not including reserve funds.

Local law enforcement, with Burien police services provided through a contract with the King County Sheriff’s Office, accounts for $18.9 million, or 36 percent, of the draft budget – the city’s single largest anticipated expenditure for next two years.

Additional projected expenditures:

• City salaries and benefits – $12.7 million, 24 percent
• City services (combined total) – $12.2 million, 23 percent
• Debt service – $4.3 million, 8 percent
• Jail/District Court services – $2 million, 4 percent
• Intergovernmental agreements – $1.6 million, 3 percent
• Supplies – $500,000, 1 percent
• Equipment – $400,000, 1 percent

A city council discussion of the preliminary 2011-12 budget is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 11, with public hearings on the budget and 2011 property tax levy on Nov. 8.

Adoption of the new budget and property tax levy are planned for Nov. 22. Under state law, local governments must adopt their budgets for the following year by Dec. 31.

“The forecasts assume current service levels updated for the effects of the recent annexation,” Coleman told city council members. They “generally err on the side of conservatism,” and are expected to change as new information comes in.

He added that while “the city is in stable financial condition for the 2011 through 2016 period … current national and regional economic conditions underscore the need to pay close attention to the general fund in particular.”

The reopening of the casino in Burien is expected to increase gambling tax revenues. And while Real Estate Excise Tax revenues, which go to the Public Works Reserve Fund, “are continuing at a slow pace … the real estate market is expected to recover in future years plus the added revenue from the recent annexation.”

In addition to an expected recovery in sales tax revenues, the city will receive an additional 0.1 percent sales tax credit from the state for the annexation of North Burien, Coleman said.

“The most important items for us to monitor closely for the rest of 2010 and into 2011 and 12 are sales tax revenues, [Real Estate Excise Tax], annexation’s financial impact, and the contract for police services with King County.

“Each of these items has the potential to have a significant impact on the city’s general and other funds,” he noted.

[Images excerpted from Burien City Council Agenda for Aug. 2, 2010 (PDF file)]

by Ralph Nichols

Despite recent notice of a pending foreclosure action against the condominium/retail complex in Burien Town Square, negotiations between Urban Partners and ST Residential have progressed to the point where a settlement appears imminent.

“We’ve completed our negotiations and the final agreement and various exhibits are being circulated and reviewed now,” Paul Keller, managing partner of Urban Partners, the private developer of Town Square, told the B-Town Blog on Aug. 17.

“I firmly believe that within a couple of weeks, the agreement will be signed,” Keller said. “When I stood before the city council in May, I told them we would see this to fruition. Today I stand by that statement.”

He declined to discuss specifics since the agreement is still under review. “I can only tell you what Urban Partners anticipates will happen.

“Very simply put,” Keller continued, “Urban Partners anticipates its continuing participation in this project through the sale of condominiums and the leasing of ground-floor retail space.”

Urban Partners built the Town Square complex with a $38.5 million construction loan from Corus Bank of Chicago. But the bank was closed and its assets seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Sept. 11, 2009 – three months after the six-story building opened.

The nation’s housing market had collapsed about a year before Corus Bank failed – as the complex was nearing completion and only eight months before it opened in June 2009, along with the new Burien Library/City Hall building and adjacent park.

“I firmly believe that within a couple of weeks, the agreement will be signed" - Paul Keller.

The FDIC kept a 60 percent interest in the Corus construction-loan portfolio and sold the remaining assets to Starwood Capital Group and four other private investors. Together all parties formed ST Residential, which is holding and renegotiating those commercial loans.

When Keller updated the city council on the progress of negotiations in May, he noted, “The FDIC entity does not lend itself to any quick resolution.” Yet in the meantime, “We have people waiting to close escrow and move into the building, but they’re stymied.”

He added this week, “There are all kinds of internal processes they [ST Residential] have to go through that I’m not privy to and then they have to report back to the FDIC” before resuming discussions with Urban Partners.

ST Residential also has its home office in Chicago and a former employee of Corus Bank, who managed Urban Partners’ Town Square construction loan, has continued to be involved with the developer during the negotiation process.

“That’s who we have had to deal with,” Keller said. “So there’s been a continuity.”

With negotiations between Urban Partners and ST Residential, which were initiated last fall, moving slowly, a legal notice of foreclosure was filed on July 26, stating that if Urban Partners does not pay $3.5 million by Sept. 1 its Town Square complex will go into foreclosure.

Urban Partners still owes approximately $34.8 million on its loan from Corus Bank. Foreclosure would affect the 118 unoccupied condos that have not been sold as well as ground-floor retail space and parking. Six condos sold last year would not be impacted.

Keller noted that the foreclosure action and the $3.5 million payment “are all included in the agreement.”

During negotiations with ST Residential, Urban Partners has attempted to renegotiate down its construction loan so prices of condos and retail space can be reduced to reflect current market rates.

Peter Marino, a spokesman for ST Residential, said in response to an inquiry from The B-Town Blog, “at this point, we are a few weeks away from being able to comment publicly about [the Town Square] property. We will let you know as soon as we have something to say.”

Urban Partners may bring a 10-screen cinema, with an additional stage for community theater and dance, to downtown Burien.

Town Square Cinema Next?
Beyond the anticipated agreement – and resumption of condo and retail-space sales – Keller said Urban Partners is “absolutely” committed to continued involvement in the private development of Town Square.

“Urban Partners has been diligently working with Galaxy Theatres for a transaction that can be advanced and can satisfy all the requirements of the downtown plan.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that very soon I will be able to report back to the Burien City Council and the Burien Economic Development Partnership of fruitful progress on a Galaxy Theatre” for Town Square.

The recent approval of financing for Burien’s Transit-Oriented Development parking garage by Sound Transit and the King County Council “is a big step forward, a critical component,” for the proposed multiplex cinema project, he said.

If built, it would bring a 10-screen multiplex cinema, with an additional stage for community theater and dance, to downtown Burien at the southwest corner of SW 150th St. and 4th Ave. SW where the old city hall building is located.

A 10-screen cinema would be built at the corner of SW 150th St. and 4th Ave. SW where the old city hall building is located.

The parking garage, which would provide needed evening and weekend parking for movie goers, will be built near the northeast corner of SW 150th St. and 4th Ave. SW. Construction is expected to begin in late summer or early fall with completion in about a year.

Council approval would be required for a cinema, since it would represent a significant change in plans from Urban Partners’ current Town Square agreement with the city for development of another condo/retail complex on that site.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

• REPORT: Burien Town Square Facing Foreclosure
• “We Can Be Proud Of What We Did” Town Square Developer Dan Rosenfeld
• Is Town Square’s Urban Partners Becoming A “Silent Partner” To Burien?
• What Is Urban Partners Planning To Do With Burien Town Square?
• Here’s Why Burien Town Square Sits Vacant Less Than A Year After Opening
• 10-Screen Multiplex Theater May Be Built At Old City Hall Location
• Cinema Reps Make Their Pitch To Burien City Council
• Will Condo Prices Be Lowered Now That Burien Town Square’s Lender’s Assets Have Been Sold?
• Are Reports Of The Demise Of Burien’s Town Square True? Take Our Poll
• Over 1,000 Witness Burien Town Square Grand Opening