The Federal Way City Council reached an agreement on Tuesday on how to pay for nine additional officers over the next biennium.
They unanimously agreed that they will not move forward with Mayor Jim Ferrell’s October recommendation that the city impose a controversial utility tax on water and sewer services, which Lakehaven Utility District provides.
“By walking away from the utility tax and taking a look at these options, it actually increases revenue by $300,000 and we moved that into the categories for the job market and unfunded positions,” Ferrell said at Tuesday’s council meeting.
The decision was folded into a vote to move the 2017-2018 budget ordinance to its second reading on Dec. 6, in which the council will make its final vote.
The utility tax would have raised $1 million a year, but council members and some members of the Lakehaven Board of Commissioners disagreed, stating the just-reached franchise agreement as a factor. Under the franchise agreement, there is a 3.6 percent franchise fee, however, city officials have said they lose about $100,000 a year because the franchise fee is less than the costs incurred.
Instead, the council agreed to use a combination of admission taxes, Transportation Business District fees, an increase in business registration fees and a Community Oriented Policing Services or COPS grant. City of Federal Way Finance Director Adé Ariwoola estimates those revenues will generate $1.7 million in 2017 and $1.9 million in 2018. However, the plan is to turn over excess revenue from 2017 to 2018, bringing the total revenue to $2.13 million in 2018.
Approximately $550,000 will fund four new officers in 2017, and $1.24 million for five more in 2018. The 2018 funds rely on a $230,000 COPS grant for 60 percent of officers’ salaries over three years.
“If the COPS grant does not come in, we either need to find the funding for those additional officers or we need to make it very clear to the public that we cannot hire them and that needs to be very clear from this moment on,” said Councilwoman Susan Honda at the meeting, noting that she’s happy with the compromise but still has concerns.
The rest of the money will be spent on police equipment – $500,0000 for the entire biennium, a police guild contract – $340,000 in 2017 and $320,000 in 2018, in investment in the job market – $300,000 over the biennium, and $20,000 each year for the Historical Society of Federal Way, which will come out of the general fund.
Ariwoola told the council in a Nov. 9 study session that because of Sound Transit 3 passing, sustaining market salary competitiveness was important for the city to invest in.
“I think at the beginning when I brought forward the city’s budget, I shared with you that we’re losing a lot of staff and I think the city needs to be competitive in what we’re paying, but we haven’t been able to fund that so I want to reemphasize that, especially in light of the election yesterday, because with the transit, there will be loss of staff from the city and I think it’s something that we need to be aware of so I want to bring that forth to you,” Ariwoola said at that meeting.
And the funds for the historical society are the most the city has given in recent years.
“I’m very pleased the city and the council and mayor have made a decision to provide some funding for the historical society,” said Diana Noble-Gulliford, the Historical Society’s board president. “It’s a beginning in preserving the history of Federal Way with financial support.”
Honda proposed the city’s Finance, Economic Development And Regional Affairs Committee, known as FEDRAC, take a look at working on a plan for the future. With the city’s needs for additional staff in the public works and parks departments, among others, Honda said she wants a plan for the future that considers increasing revenue and decreasing costs.
Honda said, “2019 will be here before we know it. We need to be working now to find those additional revenue.”
