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Home My WebLink About12/03/1996 Adjourned Meeting 1 223 CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON DECEMBER 3,''1996 ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING WITH YAKIMA COUNTY AND UNION GAP The City Council met on this date at 7:30 a.m. at the ESD #105 ' Administration Building Conference Center, 33 South 2nd Avenue, Yakima, Washington. Council members present were Mayor Lynn Buchanan, Ernie Berger, Henry Beauchamp, and John Klingele. Council Members Clarence Barnett, Bernard Sims, and John Puccinelli absent and excused. City Manager Zais, Assistant City Manager Glenn Rice, Administrative Assistant to the City Manager Marketa Oliver, Transit Manager Bill Schultz, and Deputy City Clerk Skovald also present. County Commissioners present were Bettie Ingham and William Flower. Dick Anderwald,•Yakima County Planning Director was also present. Union Gap Mayor Dan Olson and City Manager Paul Burlingame were also present. LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES Commissioner Flower opened the meeting and it was the consensus of the group to review the existing list and identify priorities common to the City and the County. Marketa Oliver directed attention to the Street & Road Maintenance & Repair Funding Issue. This includes a proposal where cities and counties receive at least 2.5 cents of State Gas Tax increases to fund street and road maintenance and repair. Commissioner Ingham asked if this is intended to be a local option gas tax or does this relate to the State Gas Tax distribution. Mr. Zais explained it relates to both. Option A is assuming there is no local option gas taxes and the State enacts somewhere from seven to ten cents a gallon, the suggestion is that cities and counties receive a 2.5 cents reallocation for road maintenance and road improvement purposes, rehabilitation and repair. If that doesn't happen, the second option, also to distribute to cities and counties, would be a local option authority of up to five cents on a county -wide basis which would be used for the same purposes. Concerning Criminal Justice Funding Issues, the City supports seeking additional State funding for, and reimbursement of, costs resulting from the passage of the unfunded mandates in ESSB 6211 and requests that State Legislators revisit this legislation. The City will monitor the revision of the current MVET distribution, lifting the lid on the funding formula for cities and counties. The lid, which goes into effect 6/30/97, changes the funding formula from a fixed percent of total MVET receipts to a fixed dollar amount adjusted for inflation. I/ (Currently, MVET grows faster than inflation.) Commissioner Ingham felt everyone should be more vocal about retaining the MVET distribution which is where criminal justice funding and local funding comes from. The County feels legislation reducing revenues to local government must be accompanied by corresponding legislation reducing mandated services. The City supports Mandates /Regulatory Reform which would require the legislature to review statutory grants of authority; prepare regulatory notes for legislation and designate criteria for evaluation of 2 2 Adjourned Joint Meeting - December 3, 1996 statutes. Commissioner Ingham explained the County's goal is to identify and change or remove ineffective, costly, unnecessary regulations and administrative procedures. There was a considerable amount of discussion about Capital Funding Issues. Dick Zais noted that state and federal capital funding and legislative support is being sought for significant infrastructure improvements. Those improvements are needed to mitigate the increased railroad activity impacts resulting from the recent merger of the Burlington Northern and Central Washington Railroads. There was discussion about exploring the possibility of utilizing 1970's existing State DOT engineering designs for overpasses for Yakima. Glenn Rice reported the Military Department has prepared legislation to partially fund water, sewer and street access which would provide industrial capability on the south side of the Airport. This will improve the opportunities for industrial growth around that facility. Dick Zais reported the first phase of expansion of the Yakima Convention Center has been within available resources from recapturing of the State Hotel /Motel Tax; the optimum expansion for this facility would require $4 - $5 million to continue on a larger scale expansion to capture additional convention center business. If that were to happen, to move into the second phase of the expansion, land acquisition for parking would be necessary. Marketa Oliver added that the City opposes an effort to change legislation which would limit the amount and the ability to receive the Hotel /Motel Tax. Referencing Community Public Health and Safety Networks, Marketa Oliver explained the current legislation empowers decision making for funding to the committee, instead of to the elected officials who are accountable to the public. To date, funding for the networks have been limited and most of it has been spent on planning; so far it has proven not to be cost effective. Under the category of Economic Development /Jobs. Issues Dick Zais explained the City supports the repeal of the law which limits hours and occupations for employment of minors. Bills introduced last session died in committee. There was a lot of discussion about the need to address youth violence problems and providing employment opportunities for youth. Council Member Beauchamp suggested this issue be targeted. Commissioner Ingham felt a long -term commitment to funding by communities is needed. Dick Zais reported that other cities with high crime are considering developing a pilot demonstration program with a one to two year waiver of the enforcement of that law to employ youths. Commissioner Ingham suggested contacting Barb Lisk on the Labor Committee to present draft legislation to seek a pilot program to let youth work. Glenn Rice suggested including counties with particularly high crime, high unemployment, and a high welfare recipient rate to participate in a pilot project. Pertaining to the Urban, Stabilization Act (formerly known as Tax Increment Financing), the City supports the bill which would provide for the allocation of a portion of state and local retail sales and business and occupation taxes for limited periods of time to assist in the financing of needed health and safety improvements, public improvements and other public investments in urban areas which are needed to encourage private development. The County would like to see 2 Adjourned Joint Meeting - December 3, 1996 225 legislation developed which allows local economic development incentives to recruit business and ' industry in counties with high unemployment, high recipient rate, and high crime. Also discussed was the expectation that the growth in the sales tax be reinvested. There was discussion about Property Tax Issues and the need to seek legislation to reduce the state portion of property tax with the local property tax remaining to support the general government for local jurisdictions. There was discussion about the County's priority to support transferring the amount of the County Sales Tax Equalization account that reverts to the state general fund to the county public health account and distributed on a per capita basis to all 33 health jurisdictions. There was discussion about Personnel Issues including supporting the abolishment of binding interest arbitration, a requirement to consider the jurisdiction's ability to pay, and some Civil Service reform. There was discussion about Water Resources and Water Quality to encourage locally -based watershed planning. Commissioner Ingham referred to nine Environment and Land Use principles which the County feels are needed in the legislation in order for it to work. There was a major amount of discussion concerning the City's priority on Criminal Justice Funding Issues. The City supports the position of making cities eligible for a portion of the 0.10% sales tax authorized to counties in HB2210 during the 1995 second special session, if the tax has not yet passed in the county. The City also supports a distribution formula identical to the current RCW 82.14.340. The County agrees only if the money is used for juvenile justice. The City needs the money to offset jail costs. After a considerable amount of discussion concerning this issue, the group came to the conclusion that more discussion is needed to identify ways to meet the growing needs of both jurisdictions. There was a consensus to add,this issue to the agenda for the December 10th Joint Meeting. The meeting adjourned at 8:50 a.m. until 9:00 a.m., for Yakima City Council members, for budget wrap -up session in the Council Chambers at City Hall. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY: 7 % • CO CIL MEMB" DATE f : e(/'® COUNCIL MEMBER DATE ATTEST: CITY CLERK BUCHANAN, MAYOR Minutes prepared by Deputy City Clerk Skovald. An audio and video tape of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office. 3