CITY'S TAXES MIGHT DROP BEING THE LOWEST COUNTY WIDE
aresamp...@aol.com
City Taxes Might Take A Steep Drop By Being The County's Only UGA
Non-Service Provider.
Fear Not, They'er Sharing The Wealth ~ While Passing The Buck.
4/20 Lake Steven Journal:
http://lakestevensjournal.com/archiveissues/april-20-05/April%2020,%202005-story2.html
Feeling the need to be generous for those less fortunate in it's UGA.
The City of Lake Stevens voted in two sewer rate increases only months
apart, but for it's own taxpayers only.
The City felt it was time to share what they had produced, but without
annexation. The move to annex is right around the corner, with no City
planner, City Administrator, and letting go of two hard working
personal, they did hire an "annexation Specialist" and asking the
County to give away the UGA without public input or vote.
Getting rave reviews in the local paper over the retaining of it's
triple AAA Bond rating, the Council immediately added an additional
Council-matic $3 million bond, that was also put into the sewer
account, for running sewers in an LID of a sparsely populated area, or
the hook with worms hoping to snag development. Also added to the sewer
fund was a recent cost overrun AKA loan of $300,000 for a non-sewer
related problem.
Not counting the police department, the City of Lake Stevens voted to
give back it's last true service needed by an annexing full service
provider with the states largest UGA at stake.
Not wanting to slight any nonresidents in it's UGA, the City chose to
pass on it's responsibilities to these nonresidents of it's $3 million
bond, and building overrun of $300,000 to those in the UGA.
The very same residents they want annexed in yesterday, if they could
get away with it, but will take what ever they can get without
annexation.
The City is under the same controls as our developer driven County
Council.
The only difference is, if annexed your neighborhood could be
completely rezoned to developers standards in weeks while you have NO
government that you know, or voted for.
The City has spent hours passing laws that would make most UGA homes
nonconforming. No hobby cars, no repairs of a personal car in your own
back yard. Ask to read the newly passed nuisance laws that deals with
private property.
If they won't admit they're broke, then the County shouldn't be bailing
them out. The County knows how illegal this move is, and should be
knocking at the GMA's doors asking how and why?
But their priority is the same as the City's, throwing up more homes,
with or without services.
The City, besides dropping the few hard workers they had, can now only
offer higher taxes and utility taxes as a service and dance to the same
developers tune as the County.
With the City being built out, that means all the new high density
housing they have planned will be in the UGA's backyards.