KALAMA — The Kalama City Council Thursday held off moving forward on any potential tax increases to fund parks and Community Building improvements, calling the measures “premature.”
The council agreed to give the newly re-established Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee time to get up and running and outline its priorities. Council members also did not want to compete on the November ballot with Cowlitz County Fire District 5’s proposed levy lid lift.
The council restarted the advisory committee in March to help streamline efforts to improve the Community Building and consider park upgrades. Five volunteer members were appointed earlier this month, and the committee’s first meeting is on May 30.
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Kalama does not have a dedicated funding stream for parks, which has an annual operating budget of about $7,000 to $8,000, said Coni McMaster, clerk/treasurer.
The city has about $36,000 earmarked for the Maruhn Memorial Park upgrade, falling short of the full project cost or the cost to replace the aging Toteff Park gazebo.
The Community Building has its own fund, with about $22,000 in reserves, said Adam Smee, city administrator. Rental fees cover about $28,000 of the $40,000 operating budget, with the rest subsidized by the general fund, he said. The 85-year-old building is in need of costly repairs and upgrades.
Kalama City Councilmember Scott Moon chimes in on possible upgrades for Maruhn and Toteff parks during the Thursday, March 16 meeting. (KLTV, Contributed)
Proposals
City staff presented several options to fund capital projects and/or operations.
The council could initiate formation of a parks and recreation district or a metropolitan parks district. Both are junior taxing districts, but a metropolitan district has more financial flexibility, according to the Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington. Those districts could then issue property tax levies or bonds.
The formation of a parks district and any funding mechanism would go to voters for approval.
In 1992, Kalama-area voters approved forming a parks district but rejected the $500,000 bond to fix the Community Building, so the district was never established, according to The Daily News archives. Similar measures also failed in 1986 and 1987. Forming the district needed a simple majority, while the bond required 60% approval to pass.
The council could put an operations and maintenance levy or levy lid lift on the ballot without creating a separate parks district.
Councilmember Jon Stanfill opposed handing parks off to a separate jurisdiction and said it was too early to put any measure on the ballot.
“I want to see what the price tag is before signing off on putting anything out there,” he said.
Councilmember Wendy Conradi said she is not interested in raising taxes at all. Conradi said parks should live within its budget and was optimistic the Toteff Park project could receive tourism dollars.
Smee said he is looking into the possibility of using the tourism dollars at Toteff Park, but the city would have to prove it draws visitors. By law, hotel/motel sales tax revenue can only be used for projects that support of maintain tourism.
Councilmember Steve Kallio said while the city doesn’t need to rush, the council needs to continue discussing a plan for when the advisory committee comes back with its ideas.
“It’s only going to get worse if we keep waiting. I’d like to see this done sooner rather than later,” he said. “We’ve got to fund parks somehow.”
Councilmember Scott Moon said while some people strongly support keeping the Community Building, the council needs to keep in mind the city will inherit the “clubhouse” building at the Lofts of Kalama development.
Councilmember Matthew Merz suggested surveying residents to see if or how much people may be willing to pay.
City staff will discuss the survey with the parks advisory committee and bring a draft back to the council.
