City Council Committee of the Whole · Monday, July 17, 2023 · City Council Digest

2. AGENDA ITEMS

Public Comment Public comment on individual agenda items will also be accepted following Council Q&A

packet pp.5–31

▶ Watch from 0:32 Open packet at p.5 ↗

Staff report:

City Council Committee of the Whole - Jul 17 2023 - Html Split-screen / Notes Video AGENDA City Council Committee of the Whole 6:30 PM - Monday, July 17, 2023 Council Chambers, 135 E. Sunset Way, Issaquah WA Page Join the meeting in-person at the address above, or virtually using the following options: Join by Computer  Webex Webinar meeting link  If needed, meeting password is 98027 Join by Phone  Call 1-206-207-1700, enter meeting number (access code) 2492 165 9694# Other Listening Options  Stream online: issaquahwa.gov/live  Comcast Channel: ICTV 21 Comments will be accepted in person or virtually at the meeting. Submit written comments to [email protected] . 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. AGENDA ITEMS a) Public Comment Public comment on individual agenda items will also be accepted following Council Q&A. 5 - 31 b) ID 1474 - Transportation Benefit District Funding Options…

Transportation Benefit District Funding Options ID 1474

Topics: TransportationBudget

▶ Watch from 26:07

Good of the Order

▶ Watch from 51:41

2052 segments .txt ↗

0:01 ↗ um good

0:05 ↗ welcome everyone I council president

0:07 ↗ Walsh called the July 17th Committee of

0:10 ↗ the whole meeting to order at 6 32 PM uh

0:14 ↗ council member Hunt is attending

0:15 ↗ tonight's meeting remotely

0:18 ↗ public comment there are multiple public

0:20 ↗ comment opportunities at tonight's

0:22 ↗ meeting first there is a general public

0:24 ↗ comment opportunity at the beginning of

0:25 ↗ the meeting or you can make comments

0:28 ↗ after the presentation and council's

0:30 ↗ question and answer period on tonight's

0:32 ↗ agenda item

0:35 ↗ um okay so starting with public comment

0:37 ↗ I will note there is no one in person

0:39 ↗ but members of the public May address

0:41 ↗ council at this time in person or

0:43 ↗ virtually those who signed up in advance

0:45 ↗ to make comments will be called on first

0:47 ↗ if you're joining us virtually and would

0:48 ↗ like to make comments please raise your

0:51 ↗ virtual hand you're on the phone press

0:53 ↗ star three we've joined by computer

0:56 ↗ smartphone look for the hand icon or you

0:58 ↗ can send the host a chat message

1:01 ↗ um you're in the room and did not sign

1:03 ↗ up I'll ask for other speakers before

1:04 ↗ closing this portion of meeting

1:06 ↗ and clerk has anyone signed up to speak

1:10 ↗ or indicated a desire to speak no we

1:12 ↗ don't have any members of the public

1:13 ↗ here in person nor virtually okay

1:16 ↗ as a reminder you'll always take written

1:19 ↗ comments at any time you can email city

1:22 ↗ council at issaquah.gov

1:26 ↗ okay so moving on to our next and only

1:30 ↗ agenda item we have

1:33 ↗ id1474 transportation benefit District

1:36 ↗ funding options presented by Andrea

1:38 ↗ Snyder Deputy City administrator and

1:40 ↗ Robert hamoud Chief Financial Officer

1:44 ↗ take it away thanks

1:51 ↗ thank you council president uh this is

1:53 ↗ Andrea Snyder let me pull up the

1:56 ↗ presentation

1:58 ↗ and as you said I also have our CFO

2:01 ↗ Robert hamoud with me and we also have

2:04 ↗ Susie monsell budget manager here to

2:06 ↗ answer any questions you may have

2:09 ↗ so tonight uh is a continuation of a

2:13 ↗ conversation that we've started on the

2:14 ↗ transportation benefit district sales

2:16 ↗ tax or TBD sales tax if you hear that

2:19 ↗ acronym

2:25 ↗ and

2:27 ↗ um what the guidance that we're looking

2:28 ↗ from Council tonight is whether the

2:31 ↗ administration should proceed with

2:33 ↗ public Outreach on a council manic 0.1

2:36 ↗ percent sales tax for transportation

2:38 ↗ infrastructure

2:39 ↗ and whether the council has any feedback

2:41 ↗ on the proposed public Outreach plan

2:46 ↗ uh we as this conversation is a

2:48 ↗ follow-up from a previous discussion we

2:50 ↗ wanted to follow up on some of the

2:52 ↗ questions that were raised by council at

2:55 ↗ our last meeting on this topic so one of

2:57 ↗ the questions that Council asked and

2:59 ↗ wanted us to explore further was why

3:02 ↗ can't we just uh have councilmanic debt

3:05 ↗ why do we need to adopt a new Revenue

3:07 ↗ Source in order to pay for these

3:09 ↗ Transportation projects we want to

3:11 ↗ implement so that's the first thing

3:12 ↗ we'll be discussing tonight we'll be

3:14 ↗ going over some of that information

3:16 ↗ we also have a more overview of the TBD

3:20 ↗ sales tax what that would look like some

3:22 ↗ of this information you've seen before

3:24 ↗ but we thought it was still pertinent to

3:26 ↗ bring up for this conversation just as a

3:28 ↗ reminder and then we also had a question

3:31 ↗ from Council about really trying to

3:32 ↗ understand the cash flow when these

3:35 ↗ revenues would be hitting if we were to

3:37 ↗ adopt them versus when the projects

3:40 ↗ would come online and how we would pay

3:42 ↗ for them what does all that look like so

3:43 ↗ we'll be going over that information as

3:45 ↗ well

3:45 ↗ um and also as requested what our public

3:49 ↗ Outreach plan would be if we were to

3:51 ↗ proceed with this 0.1 percent Council

3:54 ↗ manic sales tax and what those next

3:56 ↗ steps would look like for public

3:57 ↗ Outreach and engagement

4:00 ↗ so first why is capital a new capital

4:03 ↗ funding source needed or why can't we

4:06 ↗ just uh issue councilmanic debt without

4:09 ↗ a new Revenue source and for this I'd

4:11 ↗ like to welcome up uh CFO Robert hammoud

4:19 ↗ thank you Andrea good evening Council we

4:22 ↗ have showed this chart in the past uh

4:24 ↗ it's in the budget document and we've

4:26 ↗ also showed this at previous

4:29 ↗ budget updates as well as Council

4:31 ↗ Retreats and so again it's revenues and

4:33 ↗ expenditures over the year with the

4:35 ↗ beginning fund balance and ending fund

4:37 ↗ balances as we've discussed before

4:38 ↗ without new revenue streams you can see

4:41 ↗ that our undesignated fund balance

4:43 ↗ decreases each year and at this point

4:46 ↗ again everything being constant

4:49 ↗ there's some inflation factors but all

4:51 ↗ services being constant in this you see

4:53 ↗ that the fund balance actually is

4:55 ↗ showing in the negatives in 2027 with

4:58 ↗ lack of any other revenues or change in

5:00 ↗ revenue streams or sources

5:03 ↗ so we just wanted to show this chart as

5:05 ↗ far as what would the constant this is

5:07 ↗ the status quo right now this is

5:08 ↗ everything right now that we're assuming

5:10 ↗ in the budget

5:12 ↗ we'll have updates later in the year on

5:14 ↗ the mid-year budget update that we're

5:16 ↗ going to present in August but based on

5:20 ↗ the numbers that were presented in the

5:22 ↗ budget document that we prepared last

5:23 ↗ year this is our forecast and again you

5:26 ↗ can see at the end of 27 we're

5:29 ↗ anticipating the fund balance to be

5:30 ↗ negative if everything is all constant

5:34 ↗ any questions on this chart at all

5:40 ↗ and so the next slide shows the fund

5:42 ↗ balance

5:43 ↗ with the 0.1 percent TBD sales tax being

5:46 ↗ enacted in 2024 and you can see where

5:50 ↗ the fund balance does go below the

5:51 ↗ reserve Target in 2027 because we're

5:54 ↗ talking about what would otherwise be

5:56 ↗ general fund expenditures that

5:59 ↗ generation of that TBD sales tax

6:00 ↗ starting out at about 2.2 million the

6:03 ↗ First full year of it would

6:05 ↗ at least prevent the fund balance from

6:07 ↗ going into the negative as far as

6:09 ↗ funding for the capital projects

6:12 ↗ Transportation I've got a question for

6:14 ↗ you here

6:15 ↗ um I'm not seeing between the two charts

6:17 ↗ revenues going

6:20 ↗ um is it

6:23 ↗ 66 point in 2025 I've been seeing on the

6:27 ↗ first chart

6:29 ↗ 66.1 million in Revenue

6:32 ↗ yeah

6:33 ↗ it's on the expenditure side

6:36 ↗ so again we're offsetting the revenues

6:38 ↗ with the expenditures so that we change

6:40 ↗ the expenditure side on each sheet

6:43 ↗ why wouldn't we change the revenue side

6:45 ↗ since it's a sales tax revenue

6:49 ↗ and then to go along with that would

6:51 ↗ that would a TBD fund be considered a

6:56 ↗ designated fund or an undesignated fund

7:00 ↗ balance

7:03 ↗ hi Susie monsell budget manager here um

7:06 ↗ so the two tables the difference is if

7:09 ↗ we were to collect the TBD sales tax

7:12 ↗ revenue we would likely collect it in

7:14 ↗ another fund so the difference is with

7:16 ↗ with a new Revenue Source this table is

7:19 ↗ exactly as it's shown in the adopted

7:21 ↗ budget book so with no changes Revenue

7:23 ↗ expenditures

7:25 ↗ um but the table before sorry I'm just

7:27 ↗ going to go back one slide this one

7:29 ↗ shows if the general fund had to absorb

7:32 ↗ those expenditures what that would look

7:34 ↗ like on the expenditure side so the

7:37 ↗ revenue if we were to do a TBD sales tax

7:38 ↗ we likely wouldn't collect it into the

7:40 ↗ general fund we'd likely do it into a

7:42 ↗ capital fund because that's where the

7:43 ↗ expenditures would be

7:46 ↗ that answer your question yes but now

7:49 ↗ okay

7:51 ↗ um

7:52 ↗ so

7:54 ↗ if the revenue is going into another

7:55 ↗ fund then

7:57 ↗ doing that division of

8:00 ↗ percentage of expenditures to

8:04 ↗ undesignated fund balance

8:06 ↗ really just adjusts

8:09 ↗ yeah so if we were to do a new Revenue

8:11 ↗ everything would stay in the general

8:13 ↗ fund as the budget's adopted

8:16 ↗ so it wouldn't impact revenue or

8:18 ↗ expenditures in the general fund

8:20 ↗ okay great thanks

8:25 ↗ other questions councilmember parts

8:28 ↗ so

8:30 ↗ I'm a little confused

8:33 ↗ um

8:34 ↗ the first chart presumes a certain

8:37 ↗ amount of expenditure on Transportation

8:39 ↗ capital projects

8:46 ↗ does it say where there it's

8:52 ↗ yes so if we were to not do a new

8:55 ↗ Revenue source and like if we weren't to

8:57 ↗ do a TBD sales tax or another Capital

8:58 ↗ funding source we would need to have it

9:01 ↗ come out of the general fund which would

9:02 ↗ come out to about two and a half million

9:04 ↗ a year or 2.2 million or similar to what

9:07 ↗ the TBD sales tax would bring in

9:09 ↗ so that would come out of the

9:11 ↗ expenditure side would then be

9:12 ↗ transferred to the capital fund where

9:14 ↗ the expenditures would happen is there a

9:17 ↗ is there a

9:19 ↗ schedule of transportation funding

9:22 ↗ there's a schedule of transportation

9:24 ↗ funding implied here just not shown

9:26 ↗ right yeah so it would be the same

9:29 ↗ same as the the

9:31 ↗ purpose would fund which we have the the

9:33 ↗ cash flow of that later the only

9:35 ↗ difference would be whether it would

9:36 ↗ come out of general fund fund balance or

9:38 ↗ if it would come out of the 0.1 percent

9:40 ↗ sales tax

9:41 ↗ okay but if you did councilmatic

9:44 ↗ uh Bond Authority you would Bond a bunch

9:48 ↗ of projects and then you'd only be

9:50 ↗ paying uh the the service charge on the

9:55 ↗ bond so you wouldn't you would have a

9:58 ↗ different schedule

10:00 ↗ and none of that is visible here it's

10:02 ↗ really hard for me to see what's going

10:03 ↗ on because you would have a you would

10:05 ↗ have a smaller expenditure per year

10:08 ↗ because you'd push a bunch of those

10:09 ↗ expenditures out yeah so what we're

10:13 ↗ proposing we have a slide a little bit

10:14 ↗ later but what we're proposing is the

10:16 ↗ Northwest Sammamish Road non-motorized

10:18 ↗ improvements would need to be bonded in

10:19 ↗ either scenario

10:21 ↗ um and the its projects would be cash

10:25 ↗ funded so whether that was general fund

10:27 ↗ fund balance or that was the sales tax

10:34 ↗ if you're back on the first Slide the

10:36 ↗ fun balance without new Revenue stream

10:38 ↗ back to Susie's Point

10:40 ↗ um this Revenue expenditure line would

10:43 ↗ have to accommodate either a bond

10:45 ↗ issuance for The Debt Service and the

10:47 ↗ bond issue would have to come from the

10:48 ↗ general fund read we're seeing Reed

10:50 ↗ being stagnant or dropping over previous

10:52 ↗ years right now there's no other outside

10:55 ↗ funding that could fund these specific

10:57 ↗ projects unless we got a grant or some

10:59 ↗ outside funding that came out of nowhere

11:00 ↗ at this point at our most realistic

11:03 ↗ right now those projects back to Susie's

11:06 ↗ point would have to come out of an

11:08 ↗ issuance out of the general fund so

11:09 ↗ that's why the expenditures on this line

11:12 ↗ would pick up compared to

11:14 ↗ with the new Revenue stream it wouldn't

11:15 ↗ touch it

11:19 ↗ so the difference between

11:21 ↗ uh funding the one half percent sales

11:24 ↗ tax and not looks here to be about eight

11:28 ↗ and a half million is that right in 2027

11:31 ↗ you've got undesignated fund balance

11:33 ↗ positive 5 million with the new Revenue

11:35 ↗ stream and it was what underwater three

11:37 ↗ and a half million

11:39 ↗ uh the other one yeah 3.8 million okay

11:42 ↗ so you've got about eight and a half

11:44 ↗ nine million dollars

11:46 ↗ worth of difference isn't that

11:48 ↗ I'm just I'm just worried that the

11:51 ↗ benefit

11:53 ↗ I would like to afterwards I'm not going

11:55 ↗ to take it right now but I would like to

11:57 ↗ see what the actual streams are

11:59 ↗ in terms of what it would cost us to

12:01 ↗ just service bonding all this versus

12:05 ↗ paying for it

12:07 ↗ you know if it I suspect this doesn't

12:09 ↗ correctly include the benefit that you

12:12 ↗ get from pushing out the

12:15 ↗ paying for the bond but pushing a bunch

12:18 ↗ of that money into the future which is a

12:20 ↗ cost a future Council would have to live

12:22 ↗ with I'm just suspecting this doesn't

12:23 ↗ show that and because you don't have the

12:25 ↗ numbers listed there it's hard for me to

12:26 ↗ see it but I'm happy to if you can send

12:28 ↗ me a spreadsheet later that shows how

12:30 ↗ those parts work I'll be happy thank you

12:37 ↗ any more questions nope thank you

12:41 ↗ so the next slide is the TBD sales tax

12:45 ↗ overview

12:46 ↗ so councilmatic sales tax timing per the

12:50 ↗ state statute in the Department of

12:51 ↗ Revenue guidelines there are three

12:53 ↗ implementation dates the city can pursue

12:55 ↗ throughout the year for councilmatic

12:57 ↗ sales tax January 1st 2024 the deadline

13:00 ↗ for Council action is approximately 75

13:03 ↗ days before implementation that would be

13:05 ↗ by October 17 2023 April 1st 2024 would

13:10 ↗ be January 16th for Council action or

13:13 ↗ July 1st would be April 17th of 2024.

13:16 ↗ this is actually approval and then

13:18 ↗ notification to the Department of

13:19 ↗ Revenue

13:24 ↗ councilman Ray

13:27 ↗ um thanks for that

13:28 ↗ if we take action is there a public

13:32 ↗ recourse or is it uh final I mean is

13:35 ↗ there some sort of a petitioning or

13:38 ↗ anything that the public could do

13:41 ↗ to undo what if we did that

13:44 ↗ I

13:45 ↗ believe the answer is no because we are

13:48 ↗ not an initiative in a referendum City

13:50 ↗ that would be more of a we are okay so

13:53 ↗ they would have to a tissue would have

13:54 ↗ more information on what process they

13:56 ↗ would have

13:57 ↗ to go through

14:00 ↗ we would oh go ahead Andrea

14:05 ↗ so if you're asking if if a member of

14:08 ↗ the community could appeal the council

14:10 ↗ decision that's that is not part of the

14:14 ↗ process what they would have to do is

14:15 ↗ come up with a ballot measure to repeal

14:18 ↗ the tax to direct the council to repeal

14:20 ↗ the tax okay so there's no

14:22 ↗ in the process some any kind of uh

14:25 ↗ what made me think about it was the

14:27 ↗ 75-day period which kind of

14:30 ↗ seemed to me like that Superior you give

14:32 ↗ people there's some sort of an appeal

14:34 ↗ but there is not the the council action

14:37 ↗ is the final action unless repealed by a

14:39 ↗ ballot measure of the people got it yep

14:42 ↗ the 75-day period is really there for

14:44 ↗ the state to work with us in setting up

14:48 ↗ the systems to be able to collect the

14:50 ↗ tax and notify the businesses that would

14:54 ↗ then have to adjust their systems in

14:56 ↗ order to collect the tax great thank you

15:05 ↗ in the next slide we have presented a

15:07 ↗ previous meetings just the highlights of

15:10 ↗ the transportation benefits sales tax

15:13 ↗ Transportation benefit district has

15:14 ↗ already been established but again

15:16 ↗ without the funding mechanism this new

15:18 ↗ funding mechanism came out in 2022 for

15:21 ↗ approval from the state legislature and

15:24 ↗ again when we're talking about the

15:26 ↗ dollars generated it's about 2.2 million

15:28 ↗ of annual revenue anticipated from the

15:31 ↗ 0.1 percent councilmatic TBD

15:44 ↗ and the impact to Residents I know we've

15:46 ↗ gone over the site a couple times again

15:48 ↗ the average annual household impact

15:49 ↗ would be less than a hundred dollars a

15:51 ↗ year

15:52 ↗ based on spending habits for a forty

15:54 ↗ thousand dollar car purchase the price

15:56 ↗ would increase forty dollars for a 500

15:58 ↗ TV maybe about 50 cents

16:01 ↗ and again this would not affect most

16:04 ↗ grocery items

16:12 ↗ and then again review of the local tax

16:14 ↗ rates for a 10.1 percent

16:16 ↗ the highest the shoreline in King County

16:19 ↗ at 10.3 percent

16:27 ↗ and I'll hand it back to Andrea

16:33 ↗ thank you Robert

16:34 ↗ uh so we did bring the idea of

16:38 ↗ councilmatic uh sales tax to the

16:42 ↗ mobility and infrastructure committee

16:44 ↗ generally uh and I invite the committee

16:46 ↗ members to also chime in if I am missing

16:49 ↗ parts of the feedback we received but

16:51 ↗ generally supportive of pursuing a sales

16:55 ↗ tax a TBD sales tax there was some

16:59 ↗ discussion and desire to pursue a ballot

17:01 ↗ measure because that was what was

17:03 ↗ recommended by the task force and so the

17:06 ↗ task force had recommended a ballot

17:08 ↗ measure for actually the maximum amount

17:10 ↗ which is I believe 0.3 percent

17:13 ↗ and so there was some desire to consider

17:15 ↗ that further also the committee was

17:18 ↗ generally supportive of using the new

17:20 ↗ revenues for the intelligent

17:22 ↗ transportation system projects and the

17:24 ↗ Northwest Sammamish non-motorized

17:25 ↗ improvements

17:27 ↗ um and one thing that there was a strong

17:30 ↗ consensus on was the need for a robust

17:32 ↗ public engagement and to understand what

17:35 ↗ that engagement plan would be before

17:37 ↗ Council would even consider proceeding

17:39 ↗ with adoption

17:44 ↗ so this I think is where we go into some

17:47 ↗ of what council member marks you were

17:49 ↗ requesting and more information on the

17:51 ↗ detail of when the revenues we would

17:54 ↗ receive those revenues how we would fund

17:56 ↗ these projects and the timing of these

17:58 ↗ projects so first just a reminder we

18:00 ↗ have been talking about uh Northwest

18:02 ↗ Sammamish non-motorized Improvement

18:04 ↗ project also known as pinchpoint and the

18:08 ↗ intelligent transportation system plan

18:10 ↗ implementation so the its plan is more

18:14 ↗ of an ongoing program that we can kind

18:16 ↗ of dial up or down implementation as we

18:20 ↗ get these revenues so if we get more

18:22 ↗ revenues in one year we may be able to

18:24 ↗ do more of that project in a year versus

18:26 ↗ The Debt Service of a discrete project

18:29 ↗ with the beginning or end that's pretty

18:31 ↗ fixed once you once you get the bond The

18:33 ↗ Debt Service is fairly fixed and so this

18:36 ↗ allows us some flexibility as we would

18:38 ↗ consider a discrete project paired with

18:40 ↗ something that's ongoing that we can

18:42 ↗ kind of dial up or down what our

18:44 ↗ implementation may be that you're due to

18:46 ↗ anticipated revenues

18:48 ↗ of course TBD sales tax must go towards

18:52 ↗ Transportation projects we cannot use

18:54 ↗ this revenue on any Municipal purpose

18:56 ↗ that has to be for transportation

18:57 ↗ projects and so that means that these

19:00 ↗ revenues could also perhaps Fund in the

19:03 ↗ future maybe it's the squawk Mountain

19:06 ↗ multimodal improvements or pavement

19:09 ↗ management or other priorities that we

19:12 ↗ may have that also may change as we look

19:14 ↗ at these two projects we're suggesting

19:16 ↗ use for the funds if we get grant

19:18 ↗ funding so we're early in the stage for

19:21 ↗ both of these projects Northwest

19:22 ↗ Sammamish non-motorized and its that

19:25 ↗ it's a little too early to be able to

19:26 ↗ anticipate what Grant funds we may

19:28 ↗ receive so if we are successful getting

19:31 ↗ Grant funds we may have TBD revenues to

19:34 ↗ expend on these other Transportation

19:37 ↗ priorities that Council and the

19:38 ↗ community have

19:40 ↗ thank you so here is a cash flow summary

19:44 ↗ that I hope gets to some of your

19:46 ↗ questions council member Marts and what

19:49 ↗ this slide shows is the timing of the

19:51 ↗ projects as anticipated within the CIP

19:53 ↗ that you just adopted

19:56 ↗ The Debt Service for those projects or

19:58 ↗ how we would pay for those projects and

20:00 ↗ the revenue and when the revenues would

20:01 ↗ hit so you can see this chart would

20:03 ↗ anticipate us implementing the tax

20:06 ↗ collecting the tax in 2024.

20:09 ↗ we anticipate those revenues for the

20:11 ↗ year of 2024 to be 2.2 million we would

20:15 ↗ be using some of those revenues to help

20:17 ↗ pay for its implementation and

20:19 ↗ maintenance

20:20 ↗ and then as we show in the CIP we don't

20:25 ↗ anticipate work on pinch Point as it's

20:27 ↗ depicted here because Northwest

20:28 ↗ Sammamish non-motorized is a little long

20:30 ↗ to put in the table but we we don't

20:35 ↗ anticipate work on that happening

20:36 ↗ because of the wash.culvert projects

20:38 ↗ have pushed that project time

20:40 ↗ um

20:41 ↗ to 2028. I see there's a question

20:45 ↗ uh yes the incredulous look on my face

20:48 ↗ uh seeing 10 years worth of pinch Point

20:51 ↗ uh please tell me it's not going to take

20:54 ↗ us 10 years to do this project no that

20:56 ↗ what you see that there getting to that

20:58 ↗ is the bond service for that project so

21:02 ↗ we would issue we would issue the bond

21:04 ↗ in 2028 when we anticipate the main

21:08 ↗ expenditures to occur for starting that

21:10 ↗ construction so what we are suggesting

21:13 ↗ is that its would be paid on an ongoing

21:16 ↗ or cash basis but that we would Bond

21:18 ↗ beginning in 2028 for Northwest

21:21 ↗ Sammamish non-motorized also known as

21:24 ↗ pinch point in this in this chart

21:26 ↗ yes because I would hate to be racing uh

21:30 ↗ st3 for how long it takes to get whether

21:34 ↗ we get that would get that done before

21:36 ↗ we get a light rail station so thank you

21:38 ↗ yes and that's why you see

21:41 ↗ um that 1.55 million that would be the

21:44 ↗ anticipated Debt Service on that project

21:47 ↗ occur for 10 years so we would issue a

21:50 ↗ 10-year bond and we would use the TBD

21:52 ↗ sales tax to pay off that debt service

21:55 ↗ so then you see that blue column all the

21:58 ↗ way on the right talks about the balance

22:00 ↗ so this means the difference between the

22:02 ↗ anticipated revenues and the anticipated

22:04 ↗ expenditures for that year so we do have

22:06 ↗ some flexibility in that column which is

22:08 ↗ what we want because we know that

22:10 ↗ sometimes projects are a little bit cost

22:12 ↗ a little bit more than anticipated it's

22:14 ↗ also possible that we could use some of

22:17 ↗ these funds on other Transportation

22:20 ↗ related projects that we have

22:22 ↗ so um so as you can see 2028 would be

22:26 ↗ that year that we would issue the bond

22:31 ↗ um are there I see there's additional

22:33 ↗ questions

22:34 ↗ and and do we think that that's a bond

22:37 ↗ that we would use councilmanic or do we

22:39 ↗ think that we would go to the voters on

22:41 ↗ that that will be a councilmanic bond

22:43 ↗ so this this plan is really a hybrid it

22:46 ↗ does have councilmatic Bond it's just

22:48 ↗ not doing councilmanic bonds immediately

22:50 ↗ it's using the sales tax revenue to pay

22:54 ↗ for a council manic bond that is correct

22:57 ↗ thank you now I get it

23:01 ↗ councilmember right

23:03 ↗ I uh I'm coming at this from 180 degrees

23:05 ↗ from where councilmember Martz was

23:08 ↗ because I figured the 10 was Bond

23:09 ↗ service so that's 15 million dollars of

23:12 ↗ bonding roughly that thumb you know 10

23:14 ↗ times

23:16 ↗ 1.55 per service

23:19 ↗ is it a 15 million I thought it was much

23:21 ↗ bigger than that

23:22 ↗ I'm going to look to our budget manager

23:25 ↗ CFO to answer that question

23:28 ↗ so if you see on the left side of the

23:30 ↗ cash flow summary the 0.1 percent TBD

23:32 ↗ sales tax so the generation of the sales

23:34 ↗ tax will grow each year as a sales tax

23:36 ↗ base grows so you can see it starts at

23:39 ↗ 2.2 million

23:40 ↗ and it grows each year and so some of

23:43 ↗ this is Cash some of this is the bond

23:51 ↗ as you would like to add

23:55 ↗ um I believe I don't have the CIP in

23:57 ↗ front of me at the moment but I think

23:59 ↗ the total cost of pinchpoint is

24:01 ↗ estimated to be around 14 million so

24:04 ↗ this would include the the interest and

24:07 ↗ the issuance costs of the Bond as well

24:09 ↗ okay I I I'm I was just looking at this

24:11 ↗ the CIP and I'm

24:13 ↗ frantically looking to find the project

24:15 ↗ but it just cr028 if you need it what is

24:19 ↗ it tr028

24:22 ↗ on the list for a while

24:26 ↗ there's seven of them not on me it's on

24:28 ↗ the website

24:31 ↗ it's 16.

24:33 ↗ I wish I had the page number

24:38 ↗ okay

24:40 ↗ and these are these are estimates at

24:42 ↗ this point right so I was having an

24:44 ↗ order of magnet I mean I'm maybe not an

24:46 ↗ order of magnitude problem but I was

24:47 ↗ having a multiplier problem so I was

24:50 ↗ thinking it was you know 15 16 that's

24:52 ↗ that's fine I was thinking it was more

24:54 ↗ in the 20 somethings

24:58 ↗ council member D Michelle

25:00 ↗ so when I'm looking at the balance

25:03 ↗ column those are not cumulative balances

25:07 ↗ I'm is that correct

25:10 ↗ yes Susie has to walk back and forth and

25:13 ↗ back and forth well and my question

25:15 ↗ Susie is

25:17 ↗ um

25:18 ↗ could we can we get a kind of look at

25:20 ↗ what the

25:22 ↗ cumulative balance would be and at what

25:24 ↗ point we might be able to use those

25:26 ↗ Balance funds for that squawk Mountain

25:28 ↗ project that's absolutely I'm asking

25:31 ↗ that question yeah so I believe this

25:34 ↗ should be I'll take another look at it

25:37 ↗ I'm not positive off the top of my head

25:38 ↗ but if not then I can make sure that we

25:40 ↗ provide that

25:41 ↗ I I think that this is a cumulative I

25:44 ↗ think it is so the balance of the the

25:46 ↗ blue column it would be the year-end

25:48 ↗ balance

25:50 ↗ um so whatever so we're spending some

25:52 ↗ fund balance in some years so if you

25:53 ↗ look at uh fiscal 28 we're taking in

25:57 ↗ 2.48 million spending 660 000 on its

26:00 ↗ spending 1.55 million on pinch point

26:03 ↗ then the balance after that

26:05 ↗ is 270 000.

26:09 ↗ so all we would have in 2028 in the in

26:13 ↗ the fund would be

26:15 ↗ 22 270 000 000. so that could be

26:19 ↗ allocated

26:20 ↗ um but in this scenario we're using uh

26:23 ↗ some of that fund balance as you look at

26:24 ↗ 29 it drops it starts to raise again and

26:28 ↗ 30 uh and then at the conclusion of the

26:31 ↗ bond payments in 2037

26:33 ↗ um you start making

26:35 ↗ you know you get that 1.55 back okay so

26:40 ↗ um you know clearly the the revenue from

26:42 ↗ a sales tax is limited Revenue uh it

26:45 ↗ does not fund all of our transportation

26:46 ↗ he's what we've tried to do is really

26:49 ↗ focus on the council's two main

26:50 ↗ priorities and that's the its and the

26:53 ↗ pinch point

26:55 ↗ other other projects will require other

26:57 ↗ funding sources as we move forward

27:00 ↗ thank you

27:02 ↗ I've got a question as well

27:05 ↗ um what's the cost of the its and there

27:08 ↗ isn't really a single

27:10 ↗ project for that but if you're adding

27:13 ↗ all of that up it's over 10 million

27:16 ↗ dollars so I'm trying to understand

27:17 ↗ what's the project cost and

27:21 ↗ what requires continual payments of half

27:26 ↗ a million dollars every year the

27:28 ↗ thank you for the question the its plan

27:32 ↗ has not yet been adopted so This Is Us

27:35 ↗ trying to put forward our our best guess

27:39 ↗ um towards those projects so we don't

27:40 ↗ have that total dollar value of

27:42 ↗ implementation for the its plan but it

27:44 ↗ is also an ongoing plan that just

27:46 ↗ requires continual maintenance of these

27:48 ↗ systems that manage our traffic and so

27:51 ↗ um so what this table attempts to show

27:54 ↗ is how we could use those funds to begin

27:56 ↗ implementation of the plan the projects

27:59 ↗ within the plan include anything from

28:02 ↗ installing conduit and fiber optics to

28:05 ↗ installing new detection systems new uh

28:09 ↗ signal Cabinetry and all of these things

28:11 ↗ are very scalable

28:13 ↗ so we can vary the project and how much

28:16 ↗ of that project we would fund how many

28:18 ↗ signal cabinets we would install in a

28:20 ↗ year how many pieces of detection

28:21 ↗ equipment for example how many miles of

28:23 ↗ conduit by the available funds as we

28:26 ↗ anticipate receiving those sales tax

28:28 ↗ revenues

28:32 ↗ so I assume that also means that our

28:35 ↗ experience of improvement will be quite

28:37 ↗ gradual as well not it isn't like

28:41 ↗ building a project and all of a sudden

28:43 ↗ there's a new Road open

28:46 ↗ not necessarily I mean I think what

28:48 ↗ we're trying to do first of all is

28:50 ↗ guarantee that there's a funding stream

28:51 ↗ because absent this uh its fights for

28:54 ↗ funds with other capital projects we

28:56 ↗ want to try to assure that

28:58 ↗ um there are lots of moving Parts here I

28:59 ↗ mean the the issues with the I.T

29:01 ↗ infrastructure are are serious and

29:04 ↗ important

29:05 ↗ um so we're going to leverage this money

29:07 ↗ the best we can that's not to say there

29:08 ↗ won't be other funding sources that

29:10 ↗ we'll be able to use but this is what we

29:12 ↗ believe makes sense as a dedicated

29:14 ↗ funding source coming sales

29:19 ↗ council member marks

29:24 ↗ um I would sure like to see more this is

29:28 ↗ this its implementation maintenance is

29:30 ↗ not what I was envisioning I was

29:32 ↗ envisioning a integrated system that has

29:36 ↗ as its Cornerstone integration with the

29:39 ↗ state lighting system at exits 13 well

29:42 ↗ at least exit 15 17 and 18. and to me

29:46 ↗ it's it's a not incremental change to

29:48 ↗ integrate to that system the the worst

29:51 ↗ traffic locations in our city we would

29:53 ↗ we would be connected to that system and

29:56 ↗ plan our our uh light system accordingly

30:00 ↗ so to me this this cries out for a more

30:03 ↗ structured programmatic description

30:06 ↗ rather than we'll do what we can with

30:09 ↗ the monies that we get and make little I

30:11 ↗ mean I shouldn't say little incremental

30:12 ↗ improvements but it's it's there's some

30:15 ↗ there's some big discrete steps

30:17 ↗ associated with an its Improvement and

30:19 ↗ I've been waiting for this for 15 years

30:21 ↗ and I I really it won't it won't matter

30:23 ↗ to me until we integrate with that state

30:26 ↗ system honestly and and a secondary

30:29 ↗ question would be

30:30 ↗ um would love to know if we go spend 10

30:33 ↗ million bucks on a system like this what

30:35 ↗ it's going to do for traffic thanks

30:38 ↗ uh thank you councilmember from Arts uh

30:42 ↗ I wish we were also presenting on the

30:44 ↗ its plan uh we only have it as a draft

30:46 ↗ it is coming to the mobility and

30:48 ↗ infrastructure committee one very

30:50 ↗ critical part of that plan is

30:53 ↗ integration with the state system but

30:55 ↗ that is one part there are other

30:57 ↗ components to this its plan it is fairly

30:59 ↗ comprehensive and works to achieve other

31:02 ↗ safety goals for instance when it comes

31:04 ↗ to transportation and so in order to

31:07 ↗ integrate with the state system we do

31:09 ↗ need things like upscaled signal

31:11 ↗ cabinets we do need things like

31:13 ↗ detection we also need to be able to

31:16 ↗ hire the staff person who is going to be

31:18 ↗ managing it all and working that

31:20 ↗ critical partnership with washdot and so

31:23 ↗ those are some of the things that hiring

31:25 ↗ that staff starting that coordination

31:27 ↗ these are things that we are doing now

31:29 ↗ and we are going to

31:32 ↗ um and and so you know some of these

31:35 ↗ components that I discussed are

31:37 ↗ important for that connect with washdot

31:39 ↗ but certainly there's a lot more within

31:41 ↗ that plan that we can also achieve we

31:44 ↗ hired a staff person a while back didn't

31:46 ↗ we three years ago five years ago

31:48 ↗ something like that we we did yes since

31:51 ↗ then that staff person we have lost her

31:54 ↗ to another Community we are recruiting

31:56 ↗ for that traffic engineer position in

31:59 ↗ this moment so we had that position

32:01 ↗ budgeted then correct

32:03 ↗ okay so that that position should be

32:05 ↗ there regardless of this plan it is yes

32:08 ↗ yes all right thank you

32:12 ↗ council member Ray thank you

32:15 ↗ so particularly in uh 2028

32:18 ↗ 2029 and 2028 the the ending balance is

32:23 ↗ fairly small so not a lot of buffer

32:26 ↗ there

32:27 ↗ so would the the plan be

32:30 ↗ that if if we ran short of Revenue

32:35 ↗ from the TBD or we ran long on the

32:39 ↗ expense because 16 million divided by 10

32:42 ↗ is still more than 1.55

32:44 ↗ um then the difference comes out of

32:47 ↗ general fund is that

32:48 ↗ um that the contingency well this this

32:51 ↗ would be

32:53 ↗ um this would be a budgeting activity so

32:55 ↗ once we issue the bond we incur that

32:58 ↗ Debt Service we're then going to

33:00 ↗ prioritize paying off that debt service

33:01 ↗ with having its is the other project

33:04 ↗ that would be funded by these revenues

33:07 ↗ we could decide as we take a look at

33:09 ↗ where our revenues are again these These

33:11 ↗ are estimates of what we could

33:13 ↗ anticipate over the next until 2038 and

33:16 ↗ so

33:18 ↗ um being able to forecast our revenues

33:20 ↗ see what it's looking like in that

33:21 ↗ moment 2028 is a few years from now and

33:24 ↗ so we would have that ability through

33:26 ↗ the budgeting process to say okay we

33:28 ↗ think we can fund more I of the its

33:31 ↗ projects we can fund less of the its

33:33 ↗ projects or we can take more money out

33:35 ↗ of the general fund as you point out to

33:38 ↗ be able to pay for these things so

33:39 ↗ that's that's more of a budgeting

33:41 ↗ exercise as we get closer to seeing to

33:45 ↗ that date this is again just estimates

33:47 ↗ and projections of what we think we can

33:49 ↗ expect and how it would work

33:52 ↗ the general fund is currently paying for

33:54 ↗ much of this I would imagine reach has

33:56 ↗ been paid for some of the hardware

33:58 ↗ time that's correct but but all the

34:01 ↗ Staffing uh is currently a general fund

34:03 ↗ expense so we're hoping to continue that

34:06 ↗ investment uh but this will increase the

34:08 ↗ investment when you see the plan uh we

34:10 ↗ don't have the fundings to implement the

34:12 ↗ plan this will help the cause of doing

34:15 ↗ that

34:19 ↗ um that

34:21 ↗ not didn't disagree with that because I

34:23 ↗ don't know that might be part of the

34:25 ↗ problem but if I go back to the early

34:26 ↗ slide when it shows the expenditures did

34:29 ↗ that include the same the expenditures

34:31 ↗ without TBD was at the same level of

34:35 ↗ um

34:36 ↗ its funding as as projected in this

34:39 ↗ chart or is it yes yes it is okay so but

34:42 ↗ both of the charts that you saw earlier

34:44 ↗ still anticipated completing these

34:47 ↗ Transportation projects it just showed

34:49 ↗ what it would look like without a new

34:51 ↗ Revenue source and what it would look

34:52 ↗ like with a new Revenue Source but that

34:54 ↗ we anticipated doing those

34:56 ↗ Transportation projects in those two

34:58 ↗ previous charts

35:03 ↗ okay I think we're ready for that

35:11 ↗ okay public Outreach plan

35:15 ↗ um if we were to move forward with a

35:17 ↗ with a council manic TBD sales tax of

35:20 ↗ 0.1 percent and if uh we wanted to

35:24 ↗ implement that tax by January 1st what

35:26 ↗ we would do between now and September is

35:29 ↗ uh create and share Outreach materials

35:32 ↗ including a web page and social media

35:34 ↗ posts we would reach out specifically to

35:37 ↗ our business Community stakeholders

35:39 ↗ including the Chamber of Commerce

35:40 ↗ Downtown iska Association and also

35:43 ↗ individually to issaquah's largest

35:45 ↗ contributors of sales tax like Costco

35:47 ↗ other large shopping centers car

35:50 ↗ dealerships Etc uh to engage with them

35:53 ↗ and understand what their thoughts and

35:54 ↗ concerns may be with this raise

35:57 ↗ then in mid-september we would also

36:00 ↗ prepare for an open house that open

36:04 ↗ house could be online or in person we

36:06 ↗ want to gauge the the need for that what

36:09 ↗ the best form would be based on our

36:11 ↗ stakeholder Outreach to to that point

36:15 ↗ um then we have the opportunity to have

36:17 ↗ another Committee of the whole meeting

36:18 ↗ of council would like that if we need to

36:20 ↗ go over more information and we would

36:23 ↗ also hold a public hearing on the

36:25 ↗ proposed tax at the September 8th

36:28 ↗ council meeting and provide an update to

36:30 ↗ council at that time about what we're

36:31 ↗ hearing from members of the public

36:33 ↗ during the engagement process

36:35 ↗ then we would look for a vote on the TBD

36:38 ↗ sales tax at the October 2nd council

36:40 ↗ meeting

36:41 ↗ should that sales tax be successful we

36:44 ↗ would follow up with the public and

36:46 ↗ notify them that this tax may be coming

36:48 ↗ and that when the effective date would

36:51 ↗ be so that timeline is all

36:54 ↗ um is all uh or web anticipating the

36:58 ↗ scenario that we would empty that we

37:00 ↗ would implement the tax on January 1st

37:03 ↗ there are other options as CFO Robert

37:06 ↗ hamoud discussed earlier with a later

37:08 ↗ implementation the way that the state

37:10 ↗ does this is there's only so many times

37:12 ↗ per year and specific times of year that

37:15 ↗ we're allowed to implement a new sales

37:18 ↗ tax

37:22 ↗ um so at this time we are looking for

37:24 ↗ direction from Council if we should

37:26 ↗ proceed with the public Outreach on the

37:28 ↗ council medic 0.1 percent sales tax

37:31 ↗ or or if Council had other direction we

37:34 ↗ would love to hear that and whether

37:36 ↗ Council has feedback on our proposed

37:37 ↗ public engagement plan

37:43 ↗ okay

37:44 ↗ so I'm going to start with questions

37:46 ↗ then we can go to any public comment and

37:51 ↗ then I've got kind of a

37:53 ↗ way of approaching some of the direction

37:56 ↗ needed so we'll start any questions

38:03 ↗ I will start with council member D

38:05 ↗ Michelle

38:07 ↗ uh well I'm going to ask the question

38:09 ↗ that uh council member Hall asked uh in

38:13 ↗ an email and that is what has been our

38:16 ↗ success in terms of uh online uh public

38:20 ↗ meetings and

38:23 ↗ um

38:24 ↗ my second part of that question would be

38:26 ↗ how can we ensure

38:29 ↗ that a full range of the community can

38:33 ↗ participate in a single meeting so that

38:37 ↗ would be my two questions about the the

38:39 ↗ public meeting

38:42 ↗ uh thank you councilmember D Michelle we

38:45 ↗ we've had mixed success with online uh

38:49 ↗ Community Hall or other types of public

38:51 ↗ Community meetings some have been very

38:54 ↗ successful some have not it's dependent

38:56 ↗ on topic for example some of the online

38:59 ↗ budget meetings that we tried to do were

39:02 ↗ not so successful but the same is true

39:05 ↗ for in-person outreach that we've done

39:07 ↗ at the same time we do think that we

39:10 ↗ will get some engagement especially from

39:12 ↗ the business community on this topic and

39:14 ↗ certainly some some other members of our

39:16 ↗ residents as well

39:17 ↗ so we're hoping to do some of that

39:20 ↗ initial direct stakeholder engagement

39:22 ↗ first to have an understanding of how

39:25 ↗ much interest is how many questions are

39:27 ↗ out there so that we can better

39:30 ↗ form or customize that open house and

39:34 ↗ for it to be the most effective

39:37 ↗ um and so that's that's uh why we're

39:39 ↗ doing a little bit of uh

39:41 ↗ individual stakeholder Outreach first

39:43 ↗ just to try to have a better

39:45 ↗ understanding of what the concerns might

39:47 ↗ be how many questions there are so that

39:49 ↗ we can have a very inclusive more

39:52 ↗ Community forum and Community meetings

39:54 ↗ for this for this topic

40:02 ↗ council member Joe

40:06 ↗ thank you

40:08 ↗ um could we go back to the screen that

40:10 ↗ had the cash flow summary

40:12 ↗ just for a moment

40:15 ↗ in essence we are trying to decide

40:19 ↗ whether or not we'd like to increase

40:21 ↗ sales tax to give us a little more

40:22 ↗ flexibility on choosing the

40:25 ↗ transportation options for the future we

40:27 ↗ promised certain things to our community

40:30 ↗ up

40:31 ↗ we certainly as a council have an

40:33 ↗ obligation to watch the purse strings so

40:35 ↗ I'll just ask a kind of a two-part

40:37 ↗ question if the revenues come in less

40:39 ↗ than we anticipate by this chart what

40:42 ↗ does the administration need or want to

40:45 ↗ do and what kind of feedback would it

40:46 ↗ want from the council conversely if the

40:48 ↗ revenues are over the amount anticipated

40:51 ↗ what's the process for us choosing an

40:54 ↗ expanded plan or what would the

40:55 ↗ administration do in that scenario if

40:57 ↗ you would please

40:59 ↗ yes if the revenues come over what we

41:02 ↗ anticipate here or under we we would

41:07 ↗ address that especially during budget

41:10 ↗ updates and budget years because that's

41:11 ↗ when we're going to have them the most

41:13 ↗ accurate information about what to

41:15 ↗ expect in the next year when it comes to

41:17 ↗ revenues and so that would be part of

41:20 ↗ the budget process and part of the

41:21 ↗ budget discussion if we were to move

41:23 ↗ forward with this sales tax and bond for

41:26 ↗ the pinch Point project then we would

41:29 ↗ want to make sure to prioritize The Debt

41:31 ↗ Service with these revenues to pay off

41:33 ↗ The Debt Service

41:34 ↗ if our revenues

41:36 ↗ came in under what we anticipated then

41:39 ↗ we need to have that conversation with

41:40 ↗ Council about whether or not to proceed

41:43 ↗ for example with the its projects as

41:46 ↗ planned if we need to make cuts to other

41:48 ↗ areas of the budget in order to pay for

41:51 ↗ that project that would be part of that

41:53 ↗ budget discussion and understanding what

41:55 ↗ council's priorities are to fund what

41:57 ↗ the revenues that we have

42:00 ↗ thank you my next question is for Mr

42:03 ↗ hamud

42:04 ↗ looking at the local sales tax rates on

42:07 ↗ the slide that's

42:09 ↗ free back a little bit up maybe number

42:12 ↗ 11.

42:14 ↗ um we show our current sales taxes 10.1

42:17 ↗ percent which is a little bit under

42:19 ↗ um some of our surrounding communities

42:20 ↗ in par on par with Bellevue

42:24 ↗ um I think we've had this discussion

42:25 ↗ before

42:26 ↗ um putting it up another 0.1 percent are

42:30 ↗ we getting to a point where we've

42:32 ↗ reached uh the point where people will

42:34 ↗ be making different decisions based on

42:37 ↗ sales tax based on your experience or

42:39 ↗ are we are we still at a point where the

42:43 ↗ the point one percent is not necessarily

42:45 ↗ making a difference in the rational

42:47 ↗ decisions consumers might be making

42:50 ↗ Council membership very good question I

42:52 ↗ know it's something we presented on

42:53 ↗ before but back to the slide that had

42:56 ↗ kind of the references of what you would

42:57 ↗ pay

42:58 ↗ again when you're talking about 50 cents

43:01 ↗ for a 500 television we do not think

43:04 ↗ that would have a shopper go to Bellevue

43:06 ↗ for example instead of shopping here

43:08 ↗ locally for that 50 Cent Savings

43:11 ↗ um even a car you're talking about a

43:13 ↗ forty thousand dollar car purchase would

43:14 ↗ be forty dollars so that's not

43:15 ↗ significant it's point one percent of

43:18 ↗ the whole 10.1 percent so that alone we

43:21 ↗ did not see any sales tax we have the

43:24 ↗ example of the affordable housing sales

43:25 ↗ tax that was implemented about a year

43:27 ↗ and a half ago and we have not seen

43:29 ↗ anything but our sales tax still going

43:32 ↗ strong after that was implemented so we

43:33 ↗ did not see any impact after that

43:35 ↗ implementation great thank you very much

43:39 ↗ councilmember D Michelle yeah I just

43:41 ↗ wanted to make sure that uh we talked

43:45 ↗ about uh that uh let me go back make

43:49 ↗ sure that by taking this action uh

43:52 ↗ eventually you know when it comes back

43:54 ↗ to us we don't foreclose the opportunity

43:57 ↗ to go out for a vote for a two or three

44:00 ↗ percent sales tax increase which I also

44:02 ↗ believe is allowed by the transportation

44:05 ↗ benefit District if I'm correct

44:08 ↗ um we we don't foreclose that

44:09 ↗ opportunity right we do not we can

44:12 ↗ always go to the voters and ask for

44:13 ↗ additional additional revenues when it

44:16 ↗ comes to the TBD sales tax there is a

44:18 ↗ there's a cap that the state provides

44:20 ↗ and I think it's 0.3 percent for a

44:24 ↗ ballot measure or a TBD related sales

44:26 ↗ tax

44:32 ↗ okay I think we're at a point where we

44:36 ↗ are

44:37 ↗ done with questions just looking up at

44:40 ↗ once member hunt not seeing anything

44:42 ↗ there okay so we have another public

44:45 ↗ comment opportunity before we get a

44:49 ↗ chance to kind of Go Pine and go through

44:52 ↗ our

44:53 ↗ um conversation so do we have anyone who

44:57 ↗ is indicating a desire to speak

45:02 ↗ that I'm not even going to go through

45:04 ↗ how they would raise their hand because

45:05 ↗ there's nobody there to raise their hand

45:07 ↗ uh fantastic Okay so

45:11 ↗ the way that I was kind of approaching

45:14 ↗ this conversation we had kind of

45:18 ↗ in previous sessions asked about some

45:21 ↗ Alternatives and so things like uh

45:25 ↗ councilmanic debt was one alternative it

45:29 ↗ gets a little bit wishy-washy here by

45:32 ↗ the fact that the

45:34 ↗ presented option includes both

45:37 ↗ councilmanic debt with no new revenue

45:40 ↗ and

45:41 ↗ a new TBD Revenue

45:44 ↗ that pays for both that debt and the

45:47 ↗ other so

45:49 ↗ I guess I would ask as a first question

45:54 ↗ does anyone kind of feel like we only

45:59 ↗ need to do a

46:02 ↗ councilmanic debt with no new Revenue

46:05 ↗ source which would limit all of the

46:09 ↗ available projects that are presented

46:14 ↗ councilmember Ray I have an opinion on

46:17 ↗ that and that is I really would like to

46:20 ↗ hear from the public before I give you a

46:23 ↗ real opinion on that and so the Outreach

46:25 ↗ was really important to me when this

46:26 ↗ came to committee because I wanted to

46:28 ↗ know what the public thought about us

46:29 ↗ doing this so

46:32 ↗ um

46:34 ↗ I can see a scenario where we say is

46:36 ↗ really important that we work on

46:38 ↗ non-motorized Transportation versus The

46:39 ↗ Mammoth Road and we work on its I think

46:41 ↗ those are the two biggest capital

46:42 ↗ projects we've got but if the public

46:44 ↗ says well we really think you can find

46:46 ↗ that in your existing budget then I

46:48 ↗ think we should go find in our existing

46:50 ↗ budget so I think

46:53 ↗ um these are projects we have to do I

46:55 ↗ mean we've committed to both of them but

47:00 ↗ um

47:01 ↗ you know I don't think doing them

47:04 ↗ makes it necessary necessarily says we

47:07 ↗ have to do the the sales tax I'm not

47:09 ↗ want to commit to that until I hear some

47:11 ↗ feedback so I'm I'm very interested in

47:13 ↗ the second question which is the the

47:15 ↗ Outreach plan

47:19 ↗ so can

47:22 ↗ Andrea can you talk a little bit about

47:25 ↗ if we went with just a councilmanic debt

47:30 ↗ with no new Revenue Source what kind of

47:33 ↗ Cuts we would need to make to existing

47:36 ↗ expenditures to

47:39 ↗ cover the expenditures for these

47:41 ↗ projects

47:43 ↗ I'm not sure that was council member

47:45 ↗ Rays amen so this is

47:48 ↗ do you want to follow up with that or

47:50 ↗ that's a different question well we're

47:53 ↗ going to talk about the Outreach part

47:55 ↗ later that's technically my fourth

47:59 ↗ question on kind of how I was thinking

48:02 ↗ about the conversation well we have no

48:03 ↗ funds to pay for Council management

48:06 ↗ and so the council would ultimately have

48:09 ↗ to decide how much

48:12 ↗ um so let's say we were looking to put

48:14 ↗ the pinch point

48:15 ↗ the cash

48:18 ↗ so if that is 15 million dollars then we

48:22 ↗ would have to come up with Debt Service

48:24 ↗ for 15 million dollars over 10 years

48:26 ↗ which will be 1.5 million dollars so

48:28 ↗ that would be a reduction of existing

48:30 ↗ Services by 1.5 million dollars

48:34 ↗ so that's

48:35 ↗ roughly 10 positions

48:39 ↗ um Citywide

48:41 ↗ well positioned city-wide depending on

48:43 ↗ the benefits

48:45 ↗ um and the administration does not

48:46 ↗ believe we're in the position at this

48:47 ↗ point to reduce services in order to

48:50 ↗ cover that debt service

48:52 ↗ exactly the picture I was trying to

48:56 ↗ understand as we go through all this uh

48:59 ↗ council member marks

49:02 ↗ uh I'm not yet convinced that we need to

49:05 ↗ do

49:06 ↗ the sales tax I'm generally opposed to

49:10 ↗ making more regressive taxes

49:12 ↗ um part of my skepticism is uh and I

49:16 ↗ know you guys all probably grow tired of

49:18 ↗ my playing the 14-year card but 14 years

49:21 ↗ I've heard about how our general fund

49:23 ↗ balance is spiraling down and every

49:25 ↗ single year we have gigantic pending

49:27 ↗ fund balances and we never it never even

49:30 ↗ reaches our criteria our financial

49:31 ↗ criteria much less reaching a problem so

49:35 ↗ I have a hard time seeing Doom and Gloom

49:37 ↗ scenarios when 14 years tells me that we

49:40 ↗ don't have this problem including many

49:42 ↗ of those years when we had a sizable

49:44 ↗ councilmatic Bond service associated

49:48 ↗ with it right we've never had less

49:49 ↗ councilmatic Bond than we have today in

49:53 ↗ the 14 years that I've been involved and

49:54 ↗ we've never had a problem getting ending

49:56 ↗ fund balance which isn't to say we

49:58 ↗ couldn't drive our unding fund balance

50:00 ↗ into the ground but

50:01 ↗ um I just don't see evidence of it in

50:03 ↗ the 14 years that I've been on Council

50:04 ↗ so because I just detest I mean just

50:08 ↗ hate regressive taxes I just have a

50:10 ↗ really really hard time piling more

50:12 ↗ regressive taxes on top of people as

50:15 ↗ opposed to using some of our other

50:16 ↗ funding mechanisms that drive the

50:19 ↗ general fund that aren't as regressive

50:20 ↗ so that's that's where I'm at today

50:22 ↗ thanks so if I'm understanding correctly

50:25 ↗ your preference isn't to necessarily

50:29 ↗ look for

50:30 ↗ either less spending or an alternate

50:34 ↗ Revenue Source but just that the

50:36 ↗ experience of 14 years showing that

50:40 ↗ projections

50:43 ↗ suggested there was going to be

50:45 ↗ less general fund and there always has

50:48 ↗ been more every single year the

50:50 ↗ administration tells me they're going to

50:51 ↗ start driving down the the general fund

50:53 ↗ ending fund balance and it never happens

50:55 ↗ thanks

50:58 ↗ I'm not sure if there is anything the

51:00 ↗ administration would want to

51:09 ↗ can you repeat that I would certainly be

51:11 ↗ surprised

51:13 ↗ we are looking at potential reductions

51:15 ↗ for 24 because of it yeah so can you

51:17 ↗ repeat that so the um council member can

51:20 ↗ hear sure

51:21 ↗ um I'm afraid that the 14-year streak is

51:24 ↗ coming to an end

51:27 ↗ but but it's only July we don't yet know

51:30 ↗ I understand you have projections

51:31 ↗ through the end of the year but we're

51:33 ↗ not actually at the end of the year and

51:35 ↗ in two weeks we'll be back and we'll

51:36 ↗ give you specifics as to why we think

51:38 ↗ that is because we're doing a better job

51:40 ↗ of spending the money that we have and

51:42 ↗ we're beginning to see some of our main

51:43 ↗ Revenue sources uh decrease from what

51:47 ↗ has been budgeted so the combination of

51:49 ↗ better spending to budget and decreasing

51:52 ↗ expected revenues they end your and your

51:55 ↗ 14-year screen thank you

52:02 ↗ okay so I'm hearing yeah so the question

52:06 ↗ was are there any alternatives that we

52:09 ↗ would want to consider like councilmanic

52:12 ↗ debt without a new Revenue source so

52:14 ↗ what I'm hearing from council member Ray

52:17 ↗ is

52:18 ↗ hey we really need to hear from the

52:20 ↗ community so really cares about that

52:22 ↗ portion and from council member Martz of

52:26 ↗ I really really really dislike uh

52:29 ↗ regressive taxes and I think we based on

52:33 ↗ previous experience we might be able to

52:34 ↗ find

52:36 ↗ uh Revenue to pay for debt

52:40 ↗ but I am not hearing anyone else who's

52:43 ↗ saying

52:44 ↗ yes we should stick to just a councilman

52:48 ↗ debt with no Revenue

52:51 ↗ okay

52:52 ↗ yeah I was just going to say I'm I'm

52:53 ↗ based on presentations we've had task

52:56 ↗ force report all that I'm having a hard

52:58 ↗ time envisioning any Next Step without a

53:02 ↗ new Revenue source for these two major

53:05 ↗ priority projects

53:07 ↗ um I mean in fact one of the big things

53:09 ↗ that came out of the task force report

53:10 ↗ was actually that we need to go big we

53:12 ↗ need to go bold we need much more

53:14 ↗ investment infrastructure in order to

53:16 ↗ keep up with need this gets us a very

53:20 ↗ um small targeted amount to reach some

53:22 ↗ of our goals while we continue to think

53:23 ↗ about kind of that bigger response to

53:26 ↗ infrastructure need in town but it's

53:28 ↗ still meaningful because it's like I

53:29 ↗ said these targeted priorities that we

53:32 ↗ want to work on and also

53:35 ↗ very little Financial impact to the

53:37 ↗ average resident too what was it average

53:40 ↗ a hundred dollars maybe forty dollars

53:42 ↗ more for a forty thousand dollar car 50

53:43 ↗ cents more for 500 TV so

53:47 ↗ for me at least the next step would be

53:49 ↗ going to the community saying here's our

53:52 ↗ why we think you know we've got a huge

53:54 ↗ infrastructure need

53:56 ↗ um we think this targeted

53:58 ↗ um sales tax which will have minimal

54:00 ↗ impact on you is our best bet in order

54:02 ↗ to make right on some of these

54:04 ↗ priorities that we have

54:06 ↗ are we on the right track what do you

54:07 ↗ think and I think that would probably be

54:09 ↗ the best way to do it you know our

54:10 ↗ um public engagement plan and I'm

54:13 ↗ jumping a little bit our public

54:14 ↗ engagement plan has three types of

54:17 ↗ Engagement I think it's

54:19 ↗ um

54:20 ↗ bolt inform consult and collaborate

54:23 ↗ right and it seems like this is the

54:24 ↗ perfect time for a consult

54:27 ↗ um option because so much work has gone

54:30 ↗ into this already I would hate for us to

54:32 ↗ go in and kind of completely reinvent

54:34 ↗ the wheel when we have this story that

54:35 ↗ we need to help community so that's

54:37 ↗ where my head's out right

54:39 ↗ and that takes us a little bit into if a

54:43 ↗ if we're looking at a TBD sales tax

54:46 ↗ um do we have a sense whether there is a

54:49 ↗ reference between councilmanic or ballot

54:55 ↗ um so this would be a new Revenue Source

54:57 ↗ but there are two potential options for

55:00 ↗ that there's the going to the voters for

55:04 ↗ a ballot which could any be anywhere

55:06 ↗ from 0.1 to 0.3

55:09 ↗ um or our councilmanic Authority

55:13 ↗ um which would only be 0.1 uh council

55:15 ↗ member D Michelle

55:18 ↗ so this is a kind of a comment on the

55:21 ↗ last question and then um

55:24 ↗ so

55:26 ↗ if we're going to go out to the public

55:29 ↗ and get their feedback which I I think

55:32 ↗ is a good idea but I think that what

55:35 ↗ we've had presented tonight with the

55:37 ↗ council minute

55:39 ↗ sales tax and councilman Bond needs to

55:44 ↗ be really carefully explained to the

55:45 ↗ public and needs to be very transparent

55:48 ↗ because

55:49 ↗ um what we're talking about is a sales

55:52 ↗ tax that's really not going to fund

55:55 ↗ all of the projects that we want it has

55:57 ↗ the mix of the councilman manic Bond and

56:01 ↗ that first of all might be if we go out

56:05 ↗ and we just talk about sales tax I think

56:08 ↗ people will come back to us and say well

56:10 ↗ wait a minute you've got this bond in

56:13 ↗ here so let's go out and be totally

56:16 ↗ transparent with the public at that this

56:18 ↗ is a mix of Revenue in order to fund

56:21 ↗ some major projects

56:23 ↗ um and then the other you know with the

56:25 ↗ sales tax

56:27 ↗ that is the tax that I'm going to

56:29 ↗ presume goes on and on and on

56:31 ↗ when uh and the bonds come to an end at

56:36 ↗ a particular time

56:37 ↗ so is that correct

56:39 ↗ uh so let's I'm going to go back to this

56:42 ↗ slide because I think this helps us

56:44 ↗ demonstrate any councilmatic sales tax

56:48 ↗ uh

56:50 ↗ that you may wish to enact would only be

56:53 ↗ good for 10 years and so that would mean

56:56 ↗ if it was implemented in 2024 uh that

57:00 ↗ tax would be you know to 20 34. as you

57:04 ↗ can see on this chart there would be a

57:06 ↗ few more years of debt service that we

57:08 ↗ would anticipate needing to figure out

57:11 ↗ how to pay for

57:12 ↗ um for the Northwest Sammamish

57:14 ↗ non-motorized project

57:16 ↗ and then the bond does come to an end at

57:19 ↗ some point right yes and so the bond so

57:22 ↗ we use Bonds in kind of different ways

57:24 ↗ in public finance and so what we're

57:25 ↗ talking about here with a councilmanic

57:27 ↗ bond that really means issuing debt and

57:30 ↗ so what you see on this chart between

57:32 ↗ 2028 and 2037 is issuing debt

57:36 ↗ um that would be paid for by the TBD

57:39 ↗ sales tax and so the debt would be on

57:43 ↗ for 10 years you can see 2028 through

57:45 ↗ 2037 right so the debt would expire once

57:49 ↗ we pay it off by 2037 in this scenario

57:52 ↗ we would like I said anticipate that

57:55 ↗ either we would return to council to

57:58 ↗ seek a renewal of the TBD sales tax or

58:02 ↗ we would need to come up with other ways

58:04 ↗ to cover that Debt Service whether it's

58:06 ↗ through the general fund whether it's

58:08 ↗ through Cuts made from other

58:09 ↗ expenditures

58:11 ↗ Etc

58:12 ↗ so um back to my point in that is I do

58:16 ↗ think we should go out to the public I

58:18 ↗ do think we should get feedback we need

58:20 ↗ to very carefully explain all of this

58:23 ↗ because

58:25 ↗ at least in my experience that the

58:27 ↗ public doesn't understand

58:29 ↗ uh how that fight those financial

58:31 ↗ instruments work and what when it starts

58:35 ↗ when it ends and so forth they are

58:37 ↗ likely to be have a negative reaction to

58:41 ↗ whatever we decide to do whether it's

58:43 ↗ councilmanic or whether we go out for a

58:46 ↗ vote

58:47 ↗ um and so I think we want to be as

58:49 ↗ transparent as we possibly can about how

58:52 ↗ each one of those instruments Works uh

58:54 ↗ how much it will impact them and

58:57 ↗ when can they expect that tax to go away

59:00 ↗ or be renewed or whatever

59:04 ↗ that's fine

59:06 ↗ council member Ray

59:08 ↗ thanks I just have a follow-up question

59:10 ↗ because you said something really really

59:12 ↗ interesting which is that the sales tax

59:14 ↗ only lasts for 10 years and then would

59:16 ↗ have to be renewed is that how that

59:18 ↗ would work

59:19 ↗ so we're assuming that not only are we

59:21 ↗ going to approve it here but it'll get

59:22 ↗ renewed again because you got a long

59:24 ↗ time cash flow here

59:25 ↗ uh so we're not making assumptions of

59:28 ↗ future Council action

59:30 ↗ um but you are well well this this chart

59:32 ↗ would show that to be the case but

59:35 ↗ um if counsel is to approve a

59:37 ↗ councilmanic sales tax that does not

59:40 ↗ preempt future Council action for

59:42 ↗ another sales tax right so we would

59:45 ↗ um we would in when the sales tax would

59:49 ↗ expire and 20 uh 33

59:54 ↗ um then we would need to return and

59:55 ↗ discuss how we would pay for the

59:58 ↗ remaining Debt Service and other project

59:59 ↗ costs so whether that would be if a

1:00:01 ↗ sales tax is again appropriate to

1:00:04 ↗ consider or if there are other ways for

1:00:05 ↗ us to pay for that debt service and then

1:00:07 ↗ I have a clarifying question when we

1:00:09 ↗ talk about a bond are we talking about a

1:00:11 ↗ bond are we talking about debt because

1:00:13 ↗ there's lots of different ways we can

1:00:14 ↗ acquire debt

1:00:16 ↗ in in this particular case with that

1:00:19 ↗ 1.55 we are talking about what we would

1:00:22 ↗ call a bond but yes is is debt we're

1:00:25 ↗ calling it debt but in terms of a

1:00:26 ↗ 10-year we would issue a bond Municipal

1:00:29 ↗ Bond yes to cover the cost is we

1:00:31 ↗ wouldn't consider a bank loan because

1:00:33 ↗ last time we put this up three or four

1:00:35 ↗ years ago we we you looked at that and

1:00:39 ↗ the overhead of a bond was not

1:00:41 ↗ um in our best interest so that's

1:00:43 ↗ changed yes so when we consider Bond

1:00:46 ↗ versus bank loan depends on what the

1:00:49 ↗ rates that are associated with loans at

1:00:51 ↗ the time versus bond also the amount

1:00:54 ↗ that we would be taking out and so those

1:00:57 ↗ factors considered at this point we

1:00:59 ↗ believe it would be a bond

1:01:01 ↗ um yes we would we would issue that at

1:01:04 ↗ the lowest possible cost whatever the

1:01:06 ↗ instrument might okay yes yes and just I

1:01:09 ↗ think since we don't know what the

1:01:11 ↗ instrument is um maybe using the word

1:01:13 ↗ bond is a little

1:01:15 ↗ um something like um not accurate that's

1:01:17 ↗ what it is

1:01:18 ↗ um but really we're just talking about

1:01:20 ↗ taking on debt at some level in some

1:01:23 ↗ some vehicle

1:01:24 ↗ yes

1:01:28 ↗ okay

1:01:30 ↗ so

1:01:31 ↗ I think what the administration wants

1:01:35 ↗ from us is to be able to

1:01:39 ↗ provide the feedback on are we ready to

1:01:43 ↗ go to the public

1:01:45 ↗ to ask about

1:01:48 ↗ a TBD sales tax

1:01:51 ↗ do we have any

1:01:54 ↗ kind of

1:01:55 ↗ direction or thought or preference

1:01:58 ↗ between looking at a councilmanic or a

1:02:02 ↗ ballot

1:02:04 ↗ that would be useful for that

1:02:07 ↗ conversation

1:02:10 ↗ and then the other portion of it is kind

1:02:14 ↗ of feedback on public engagement

1:02:17 ↗ including that timeline

1:02:21 ↗ so we feel comfortable enough with the

1:02:24 ↗ presentation to go to the public council

1:02:28 ↗ member Joe

1:02:30 ↗ thank you

1:02:31 ↗ um want to thank the administration for

1:02:34 ↗ putting this together one of the things

1:02:35 ↗ that strikes me in the cash flow summary

1:02:38 ↗ is that if we do go forward with the

1:02:42 ↗ point one percent TBD sales tax we're

1:02:45 ↗ trying it out for about four years first

1:02:48 ↗ to see how it goes and whether or not

1:02:50 ↗ the revenues come in as we think they

1:02:52 ↗ will and then we're making a decision

1:02:54 ↗ after that four-year period whether or

1:02:56 ↗ not to go for more debt whether it's a

1:02:59 ↗ bond or a loan so it's incremental it's

1:03:02 ↗ a rational incremental approach to

1:03:04 ↗ address our transportation needs I think

1:03:07 ↗ that uh speaking just for myself that I

1:03:12 ↗ would be in favor of going forward with

1:03:14 ↗ this plan

1:03:15 ↗ and that I think that we should as a

1:03:17 ↗ council

1:03:18 ↗ um

1:03:19 ↗ not go to the voters with this but to

1:03:22 ↗ listen to all their comments through the

1:03:24 ↗ transparent process that some of the

1:03:26 ↗ council members have outlined and the

1:03:28 ↗ reason I I think the council should do

1:03:30 ↗ this is

1:03:31 ↗ we've been elected seven people elected

1:03:34 ↗ to set policy for the city

1:03:36 ↗ and we listen to the feedback that's

1:03:38 ↗ there and if the feedback comes back and

1:03:40 ↗ says uh we don't want to do this and

1:03:42 ↗ we're certainly going to take that in

1:03:43 ↗ mind because it says go ahead and do it

1:03:46 ↗ we've been empowered by the voters to go

1:03:49 ↗ ahead and make that step and go for debt

1:03:53 ↗ if we think it's a good plan to go

1:03:55 ↗ forward with

1:03:57 ↗ I want to learn more about the plan but

1:04:00 ↗ I appreciate the administration looking

1:04:02 ↗ at this in kind of a tiered approach

1:04:04 ↗ doing the sales tax first and then doing

1:04:07 ↗ the bond

1:04:08 ↗ in the future based on the revenue from

1:04:10 ↗ the sales tax once we know that that

1:04:12 ↗ Revenue source is secure and stable

1:04:15 ↗ I also like the fact that we're leaving

1:04:16 ↗ our options quite open as we go if the

1:04:19 ↗ revenue comes in higher we have some

1:04:21 ↗ leeway to perhaps do some other things

1:04:23 ↗ if the revenue comes in lower we're

1:04:25 ↗ going to certainly scale back our our

1:04:28 ↗ plans along the way but we're going to

1:04:31 ↗ do everything we can to be good stewards

1:04:33 ↗ of the sales tax money that comes in to

1:04:36 ↗ us every step of the way and I think

1:04:39 ↗ that's important

1:04:40 ↗ finally I taxes are never a great

1:04:43 ↗ subject but

1:04:45 ↗ with this one we're at least spreading

1:04:47 ↗ out the tax base as widely as we

1:04:49 ↗ possibly can

1:04:51 ↗ people who shop in our stores that

1:04:52 ↗ aren't buying gas or food the essentials

1:04:54 ↗ but are buying things in our city or

1:04:56 ↗ having Goods delivered through

1:04:58 ↗ any of the delivery services and the

1:05:01 ↗ final delivery is here they're paying

1:05:03 ↗ some sales tax to help support the

1:05:06 ↗ transportation needs of the city it's a

1:05:08 ↗ wide base of people and individuals

1:05:10 ↗ paying a little bit at a time through

1:05:13 ↗ all of their transactions I think it's a

1:05:15 ↗ wise way to go but I haven't made a

1:05:18 ↗ final decision but I think that this is

1:05:19 ↗ a good first step I think we should go

1:05:21 ↗ to the voters to show them what we want

1:05:23 ↗ to do communicate what we want to do

1:05:25 ↗ hear their feedback along the way thank

1:05:27 ↗ you

1:05:30 ↗ okay and I've got a council member hunt

1:05:33 ↗ then Deputy council president Hall then

1:05:35 ↗ uh council member D Michelle

1:05:39 ↗ thank you I agree that I think we should

1:05:44 ↗ go to the public with this plan I have

1:05:48 ↗ heard from many residents and many

1:05:51 ↗ business owners about the importance of

1:05:53 ↗ improving our traffic system so I think

1:05:56 ↗ especially the intelligent

1:05:58 ↗ Transportation Systems which will

1:06:00 ↗ increase her safety and reduce traffic

1:06:04 ↗ reduce the amount of time that people

1:06:05 ↗ are spending in traffic I think that's

1:06:07 ↗ really important and I think it's

1:06:10 ↗ something that we've heard about from

1:06:11 ↗ the community for many years so

1:06:15 ↗ um my advice is that as we're doing this

1:06:19 ↗ Outreach and as we're putting this

1:06:21 ↗ before the public we we need to also

1:06:24 ↗ explain

1:06:25 ↗ the need for this and the need for

1:06:29 ↗ um the projects that will be funded

1:06:31 ↗ through this

1:06:33 ↗ um through this Revenue

1:06:35 ↗ um when I look back at our conversations

1:06:37 ↗ from the CIP from several years ago we

1:06:41 ↗ in the in the 2021 letter from the

1:06:44 ↗ council president at that time we

1:06:46 ↗ specifically talked about the challenge

1:06:48 ↗ associated with some of these projects

1:06:50 ↗ like the pinchpoint project that are

1:06:53 ↗ don't have identified Revenue sources

1:06:56 ↗ the squawk Mountain sidewalks as of the

1:06:59 ↗ last CIP is intended to be funded by the

1:07:01 ↗ school safety funds the pinchpoint

1:07:03 ↗ project we have we have had that project

1:07:06 ↗ in rcip and it has been a concern for

1:07:10 ↗ residents for many years and it's been

1:07:12 ↗ in many of our plans and we've asked for

1:07:16 ↗ a way to funds this and I think the

1:07:18 ↗ Administration has put forward a

1:07:20 ↗ measured plan that addresses those

1:07:23 ↗ targeted needs that we've heard about

1:07:24 ↗ for years

1:07:26 ↗ um which I think we should we should

1:07:29 ↗ show this plan to the public and get

1:07:31 ↗ their feedback but I think this has been

1:07:34 ↗ um a long time coming and when I look

1:07:36 ↗ back at our conversations over the last

1:07:38 ↗ several years we we've continually

1:07:40 ↗ identified these projects as important

1:07:41 ↗ and

1:07:42 ↗ conversations with hundreds of residents

1:07:44 ↗ have also

1:07:45 ↗ resonated on this topic especially the

1:07:48 ↗ intelligent transportation system so I

1:07:50 ↗ think with those projects

1:07:53 ↗ um at the Forefront we should rest to

1:07:56 ↗ the public and see what they to say

1:07:59 ↗ thank you uh Deputy council president

1:08:02 ↗ Hall uh thanks a few more things I

1:08:04 ↗ wanted to add on first and foremost

1:08:06 ↗ totally agree with everything said by

1:08:08 ↗ the last couple of speakers

1:08:11 ↗ um I think I'm convinced that a

1:08:13 ↗ councilman

1:08:15 ↗ councilmanic right councilmanic vote is

1:08:17 ↗ probably the better approach for the

1:08:19 ↗ time being you know our community survey

1:08:21 ↗ our most recent Community survey

1:08:22 ↗ identified transportation and cost of

1:08:25 ↗ living as priorities so I actually think

1:08:27 ↗ that a councilmanic 0.1 percent is

1:08:29 ↗ probably striking the good balance there

1:08:32 ↗ um so I wanted to mention that I think

1:08:35 ↗ it also complements kind of

1:08:37 ↗ potential future facilities ballot

1:08:40 ↗ measure two

1:08:42 ↗ um that we're not kind of going out for

1:08:43 ↗ ballot fatigue with our community as

1:08:45 ↗ well

1:08:46 ↗ um

1:08:49 ↗ I would love to have an opportunity I

1:08:53 ↗ totally agree with um

1:08:56 ↗ like I said going out to the community

1:08:57 ↗ sharing our why story and collecting

1:08:59 ↗ feedback and reviewing it as a council

1:09:00 ↗ would love to have an opportunity I

1:09:02 ↗ can't remember if it was said there will

1:09:04 ↗ be an opportunity for Council to kind of

1:09:06 ↗ review the feedback before the public

1:09:08 ↗ hearing or would it be that public

1:09:10 ↗ hearing

1:09:12 ↗ it it would be on the public hearing

1:09:14 ↗ September 18th we would give you an

1:09:16 ↗ update for that feedback in advance of

1:09:18 ↗ uh when we would bring this for you for

1:09:20 ↗ consideration of a vote we could also

1:09:23 ↗ have another Committee of the whole

1:09:25 ↗ meeting for additional time to review

1:09:27 ↗ that data okay

1:09:29 ↗ yeah and that might be that might be

1:09:31 ↗ necessary too depending on

1:09:34 ↗ because it would really only be a few

1:09:35 ↗ months of Engagement over summer months

1:09:38 ↗ when people are away on vacation but I

1:09:41 ↗ would be completely in favor of pushing

1:09:43 ↗ the timeline a little bit to start

1:09:44 ↗ implementation

1:09:45 ↗ to start Q2 next year or April something

1:09:50 ↗ um if there's not a lot of financial

1:09:52 ↗ impacts to that that might give us a

1:09:54 ↗ little bit more time to make the case

1:09:56 ↗ and really gather some feedback

1:09:58 ↗ um

1:10:02 ↗ and kind of just do our due diligence so

1:10:04 ↗ the community knows that that we hear

1:10:06 ↗ them and also like I said knows our why

1:10:09 ↗ so as long as there's not any

1:10:12 ↗ um direct impact

1:10:13 ↗ and moving it to the next slot on the

1:10:15 ↗ timeline I would be in favor

1:10:18 ↗ and and to be clear because I know this

1:10:20 ↗ question was raised uh over email there

1:10:23 ↗ we don't anticipate a major Financial

1:10:25 ↗ impacts if this was to be pushed back to

1:10:28 ↗ say an April implementation for example

1:10:30 ↗ instead of a January 1st implementation

1:10:35 ↗ okay remember D Michelle then council

1:10:37 ↗ member

1:10:38 ↗ thank you um I agree with Deputy council

1:10:41 ↗ president holla regarding uh let's take

1:10:44 ↗ this plan out to the public and not

1:10:47 ↗ um and not a two percent or a three

1:10:49 ↗ percent uh ballot measure or discussion

1:10:52 ↗ I uh I think we've got other items

1:10:56 ↗ coming up that will be asking the public

1:10:58 ↗ to give us feedback on as well and I

1:11:00 ↗ think it would get quite confusing I do

1:11:03 ↗ want to express just concern about the

1:11:05 ↗ idea of just having a single meeting

1:11:07 ↗ because we know that no matter when we

1:11:11 ↗ schedule a meeting somebody can't be

1:11:13 ↗ there and

1:11:15 ↗ um so I would uh

1:11:18 ↗ and I know that it's a staff intensive

1:11:21 ↗ to have more than one meeting but let's

1:11:24 ↗ at least give the public additional

1:11:26 ↗ options for giving feedback such as a

1:11:30 ↗ structured survey of some kind or

1:11:33 ↗ uh other ways to communicate with us in

1:11:37 ↗ addition to just a single meaning if

1:11:38 ↗ that's what we determine we've got the

1:11:40 ↗ capacity to do

1:11:42 ↗ um uh it just no matter what we do if we

1:11:45 ↗ only have one meeting there are people

1:11:47 ↗ who are going to be left out and we know

1:11:49 ↗ that so we have to think about how we

1:11:51 ↗ can Garner as much input as we possibly

1:11:55 ↗ can thank you

1:11:58 ↗ council member Martz then council member

1:12:01 ↗ Ray

1:12:03 ↗ so I I want to be clear

1:12:05 ↗ um in pointing out how much I don't like

1:12:09 ↗ regressive taxes uh I'm not saying

1:12:14 ↗ absolutely positively that I wouldn't

1:12:15 ↗ support a package that came before

1:12:18 ↗ Council especially after with public

1:12:20 ↗ input I think it's really important that

1:12:22 ↗ we address the pinch point I'm just

1:12:24 ↗ hoping to convince my fellow council

1:12:25 ↗ members uh of how we at least initially

1:12:29 ↗ might want to fund that differently than

1:12:31 ↗ what's being recommended by the

1:12:32 ↗ administration but I am certainly in

1:12:34 ↗ favor of uh addressing the pinch Point

1:12:36 ↗ as I have been for the number of years

1:12:38 ↗ that has been in front of us

1:12:40 ↗ um but uh you know I I was just

1:12:44 ↗ re-looking at you know the 2023 budget

1:12:46 ↗ at the end of 2022 and despite setting

1:12:49 ↗ aside you know we we created a set-aside

1:12:51 ↗ to specifically drive down the ending

1:12:54 ↗ fund balance and we are still at the

1:12:55 ↗ time of writing of that still looking at

1:12:57 ↗ projected like 30 ending fund balance I

1:12:59 ↗ don't know what we actually wound up at

1:13:01 ↗ but

1:13:02 ↗ um you know I I when I came on this

1:13:05 ↗ Council we had had a decent councilmanic

1:13:09 ↗ uh load on the budget and the city

1:13:12 ↗ operated just fine so um I'm I'm saying

1:13:15 ↗ I I'm not I'm not hard over uh in favor

1:13:20 ↗ of this plan but I am hard over in favor

1:13:23 ↗ of addressing thank you

1:13:26 ↗ onto my Beret thanks

1:13:29 ↗ uh I think we're all in agreement

1:13:31 ↗ because we agreed on the CIP that

1:13:33 ↗ intelligent transportation and the

1:13:35 ↗ non-motorized Sammamish Road are really

1:13:38 ↗ really important so it's not a matter of

1:13:40 ↗ of those projects it's really all about

1:13:42 ↗ how do we fund them

1:13:44 ↗ um so I can get behind a 0.1 sales tax

1:13:48 ↗ for transportation from the TBD but if I

1:13:51 ↗ hearken back a couple years I'm starting

1:13:52 ↗ to sound like uh council member Martz

1:13:54 ↗ here and I don't have quite as much time

1:13:55 ↗ but you know we were in a position where

1:13:58 ↗ we were going to have to go and get a

1:13:59 ↗ vote of the people to do that so now

1:14:02 ↗ because of a change in state law we we

1:14:03 ↗ don't have don't have to do that but I

1:14:06 ↗ still feel a really strong obligation

1:14:08 ↗ that we do I think this was uh Deputy

1:14:11 ↗ president Hall said our due diligence

1:14:14 ↗ and that we get out and we do talk to

1:14:17 ↗ people and we do proactive Outreach not

1:14:20 ↗ reactive Outreach and say hey we're

1:14:23 ↗ doing this and we're doing it because we

1:14:25 ↗ want to do these things and if we don't

1:14:28 ↗ do that then we're going to have have to

1:14:29 ↗ not do some other things and that was

1:14:31 ↗ the conversation I think that the city

1:14:33 ↗ administrator was hearkening to that if

1:14:35 ↗ we don't do this you know either don't

1:14:38 ↗ do these things we really care about or

1:14:40 ↗ we have to find some other services to

1:14:41 ↗ cut so there's there's a compelling

1:14:43 ↗ argument to make I want us to make that

1:14:45 ↗ compelling argument I want us to take

1:14:46 ↗ our time in making that compelling

1:14:48 ↗ argument and I want the end of the day

1:14:50 ↗ for us to feel like people had an

1:14:52 ↗ opportunity to be heard I want people to

1:14:55 ↗ feel like they had an opportunity to be

1:14:56 ↗ heard because we are being able to

1:14:58 ↗ short-circuit a vote of the People by

1:15:00 ↗ this uh this new gift we got from the

1:15:02 ↗ state legislature so quite honestly I

1:15:05 ↗ think trying to do it between mid to

1:15:07 ↗ mid-july and uh sometime in October

1:15:10 ↗ early October is not going to give us

1:15:12 ↗ enough time to accomplish what I want to

1:15:15 ↗ accomplish in terms of a proactive

1:15:17 ↗ affirmative reaching out to people to

1:15:20 ↗ get their feedback so I think if we

1:15:23 ↗ could wrap it up by the end of the year

1:15:24 ↗ that'd be Hooray we can go in April I

1:15:26 ↗ just do I just honest to God I don't see

1:15:28 ↗ how we can do a credible job in the

1:15:30 ↗ timeline that's LED laid out to make a

1:15:33 ↗ for uh January 1 implementation so

1:15:36 ↗ that's that's my take on Outreach

1:15:40 ↗ yes go ahead and

1:15:42 ↗ so would that be the idea to

1:15:45 ↗ try to have a vote before the end of the

1:15:48 ↗ year

1:15:50 ↗ if we didn't want to go with October

1:15:52 ↗ we'd still want to have a vote before

1:15:53 ↗ the end of the year but

1:15:55 ↗ yes that that would that would be our

1:15:58 ↗ request we can come back uh in September

1:16:01 ↗ if the timeline is pushed we can come

1:16:04 ↗ back and update on what that public

1:16:05 ↗ Outreach plan would look like based on

1:16:07 ↗ the feedback tonight and the timing

1:16:10 ↗ um based on wanting to have more time

1:16:12 ↗ for a public Outreach plan and we could

1:16:14 ↗ fashion it uh for that first meeting in

1:16:17 ↗ September with a plan that would take

1:16:19 ↗ you with a decision point in December so

1:16:23 ↗ you could have the full fall uh for

1:16:25 ↗ hours and we will take the feedback

1:16:28 ↗ we've received this evening take the

1:16:30 ↗ calendar out

1:16:32 ↗ lot in some more dates with a decision

1:16:35 ↗ Point either in November or December so

1:16:37 ↗ with discussions and you know latter

1:16:39 ↗ part of September October

1:16:41 ↗ the November that should be I think it's

1:16:43 ↗ prime time for people's attentions uh

1:16:46 ↗ will give us an opportunity and the

1:16:48 ↗ other piece of this is the intelligent

1:16:50 ↗ transportation system plan will then

1:16:52 ↗ reviewed by the council and approved so

1:16:54 ↗ since a lot of this is going to be

1:16:55 ↗ funding that plan I think it makes sense

1:16:58 ↗ to be able to have a council adopted

1:16:59 ↗ plan in hand to share with members of

1:17:02 ↗ the community so

1:17:03 ↗ um council president as you're

1:17:05 ↗ continuing this discussion certainly the

1:17:07 ↗ administration is very comfortable uh

1:17:09 ↗ with moving this we I think agree with

1:17:12 ↗ many of the comments this evening and

1:17:14 ↗ then would be prepared to come back to

1:17:16 ↗ the full Council as a regular business

1:17:17 ↗ item in September with our plan of

1:17:21 ↗ action and get formal right off from the

1:17:23 ↗ council

1:17:26 ↗ okay well I think my feedback Echoes a

1:17:29 ↗ lot of what I am hearing

1:17:31 ↗ um

1:17:32 ↗ I think my only hesitation is I sure

1:17:36 ↗ would love to be able to do what the

1:17:38 ↗ Capital Finance task force wanted us to

1:17:41 ↗ do which was go big I would really love

1:17:44 ↗ to be able to do that I just don't think

1:17:47 ↗ we have the projects and kind of the

1:17:51 ↗ well thought out ability to pull

1:17:54 ↗ together a cohesive set of projects

1:17:58 ↗ that would warrant

1:18:01 ↗ a an item on a ballot that would be 0.3

1:18:05 ↗ but what I would ask is that

1:18:08 ↗ if we're going this measure which is

1:18:12 ↗ essentially a 0.1 percent sales tax that

1:18:15 ↗ we still really think about what what it

1:18:19 ↗ would look like to go big and how we're

1:18:22 ↗ going to accomplish that because this

1:18:25 ↗ this is

1:18:27 ↗ a small portion

1:18:29 ↗ of our overall need and I think it's

1:18:31 ↗ important we we really need to prove our

1:18:34 ↗ ability to get projects done and so that

1:18:38 ↗ is why I am absolutely in favor right

1:18:41 ↗ now at this moment to do a councilmanic

1:18:45 ↗ point one percent TBD sales tax because

1:18:47 ↗ I think we need that

1:18:50 ↗ ability to show the voters look

1:18:53 ↗ this is what we can get done with a

1:18:55 ↗ certain amount of money

1:18:57 ↗ before we think about that going big but

1:19:00 ↗ I do want to have a sense of kind of

1:19:02 ↗ what is our timeline I would also ask we

1:19:05 ↗ have a lot of other potential

1:19:08 ↗ projects and areas that need additional

1:19:11 ↗ Revenue such as public safety and City

1:19:16 ↗ facilities such as you know one of the

1:19:18 ↗ things the Capital Finance task force

1:19:20 ↗ talked about was a park district and so

1:19:24 ↗ I'd like to again bring out that concept

1:19:27 ↗ for us when we're looking at this and

1:19:30 ↗ say okay this helps us not get that

1:19:35 ↗ ballot fatigue that we were talking

1:19:36 ↗ about

1:19:37 ↗ if we do have some potential plans to

1:19:42 ↗ present some other stories of needs to

1:19:44 ↗ the community so I I again think this is

1:19:48 ↗ the right approach for those reasons

1:19:51 ↗ I think when we're going out to the

1:19:54 ↗ community for feedback I also share the

1:19:57 ↗ concern that it's summer

1:19:59 ↗ nobody wants to sit down with a

1:20:01 ↗ government meeting about taxes in the

1:20:04 ↗ middle of summer when they might want to

1:20:07 ↗ be on vacation instead

1:20:08 ↗ um and so I really do think that an

1:20:11 ↗ early fall period is probably a great

1:20:14 ↗ time to approach people

1:20:16 ↗ I think it's also really important to

1:20:19 ↗ explain the Alternatives you know the

1:20:22 ↗ the chart the slide that shows okay what

1:20:26 ↗ will it cost you is great the slide that

1:20:28 ↗ shows what will you get out of this is

1:20:31 ↗ great but somebody's always going to go

1:20:34 ↗ well can't you just do it with the

1:20:37 ↗ revenue you have and so I think it would

1:20:40 ↗ be really important to say if we don't

1:20:41 ↗ have additional Revenue the two options

1:20:44 ↗ we have are don't do these projects or

1:20:48 ↗ cut 10 to 15 employees or Associated

1:20:52 ↗ Services worth 2.2 million dollars a

1:20:56 ↗ year and so I think that's really

1:20:58 ↗ important to be clear with the community

1:21:02 ↗ there isn't a bucket of money that we're

1:21:05 ↗ just touching

1:21:07 ↗ um when we're looking at this so

1:21:10 ↗ uh I think you should have a pretty

1:21:14 ↗ clear understanding of feedback anything

1:21:16 ↗ you want to summarize let me just repeat

1:21:19 ↗ back so that I have missed anything

1:21:29 ↗ so what I think I hear the council

1:21:32 ↗ saying is that your general support of

1:21:34 ↗ moving forward with a councilmanic a

1:21:36 ↗ sales tax that you would like a

1:21:38 ↗ community outreach plan

1:21:40 ↗ um we would come back to you at the

1:21:41 ↗ first meeting in September at a regular

1:21:43 ↗ council meeting with that plan uh

1:21:45 ↗ detailing uh Community meetings

1:21:48 ↗ detailing meetings with Community

1:21:49 ↗ stakeholders detailing

1:21:52 ↗ um

1:21:53 ↗ both online and non-online Outreach for

1:21:56 ↗ the community

1:21:58 ↗ also coming then with a calendar that

1:22:00 ↗ when it would come back it sounds like

1:22:02 ↗ the council would like a couple of

1:22:04 ↗ touches perhaps committee the whole

1:22:06 ↗ prior to a public hearing prior to

1:22:09 ↗ adoption so that would be you know

1:22:12 ↗ Committee of the whole in two council

1:22:14 ↗ meeting touches so three readings total

1:22:17 ↗ we could also then we could also send it

1:22:20 ↗ to committee uh with if that would be

1:22:22 ↗ the council's wish in addition before it

1:22:24 ↗ comes to the committee of the whole so

1:22:26 ↗ that'd be a fourth uh public meeting

1:22:29 ↗ so we will put together a schedule that

1:22:31 ↗ reflects those ideas I'll come back on a

1:22:34 ↗ regular agenda in September that would

1:22:37 ↗ then keep us for an April

1:22:40 ↗ implementation so we will then also as

1:22:43 ↗ we are working on changes for the 24

1:22:46 ↗ budget

1:22:47 ↗ um assume at least for budgeting

1:22:50 ↗ purposes that that Revenue would be

1:22:51 ↗ available for a portion of 24.

1:22:56 ↗ anybody want to add or correct nope or

1:23:00 ↗ yeah just a comment I I think with the

1:23:02 ↗ importance of this and the nature of the

1:23:04 ↗ discussion I don't know that a touch

1:23:06 ↗ with a committee would be a whole lot of

1:23:07 ↗ a value he is the chair of the committee

1:23:10 ↗ that would get it we would just be kind

1:23:12 ↗ of hashing the same the same stuff so I

1:23:15 ↗ think this is important enough and

1:23:17 ↗ needs enough eyeballs I think this is

1:23:19 ↗ class clearly why we we created the

1:23:20 ↗ committee of the whole

1:23:23 ↗ council member Joe

1:23:25 ↗ just a thought if we're doing any

1:23:27 ↗ Council neighborhood meetings as well we

1:23:30 ↗ could put it as one of the touch points

1:23:32 ↗ and have a table there and make it a

1:23:36 ↗ topic of discussion as well I think that

1:23:38 ↗ would be a way the council is directly

1:23:40 ↗ reaching out to to the people to hear

1:23:42 ↗ their concerns as well

1:23:44 ↗ and Council leadership is is working on

1:23:46 ↗ dates for the fall uh September 30th

1:23:49 ↗ date at the farmers market for the

1:23:51 ↗ council uh meeting the first at the

1:23:54 ↗ first week in November November 9th is

1:23:57 ↗ the date that we're looking at for the

1:23:59 ↗ fall

1:24:00 ↗ um sort of uh on the road meeting

1:24:02 ↗ listening session so those those two

1:24:05 ↗ meetings are are currently there

1:24:06 ↗ certainly you will have salmon days uh

1:24:10 ↗ the city has a booth at salmon days

1:24:11 ↗ which we can uh I think we're gonna I

1:24:14 ↗ don't know that we've negotiated that

1:24:16 ↗ yet with the Chamber of Commerce but uh

1:24:19 ↗ um a booth at salmon days as well

1:24:22 ↗ um so I think there's plenty of

1:24:24 ↗ opportunities so we'll make sure that uh

1:24:27 ↗ we'll skip the the mobility and

1:24:30 ↗ transportation committee and to just

1:24:32 ↗ look at a community the whole probably

1:24:34 ↗ in the month of

1:24:37 ↗ or maybe the month of November the very

1:24:39 ↗ first part of November

1:24:40 ↗ um

1:24:42 ↗ get feedback I think we already should

1:24:44 ↗ have

1:24:45 ↗ one scheduled for November so if we need

1:24:47 ↗ to have another scheduled

1:24:49 ↗ we can do that

1:24:55 ↗ yeah it looks like our committee of the

1:24:57 ↗ whole is currently scheduled for

1:24:59 ↗ November 13th and is open and accepting

1:25:01 ↗ agenda items

1:25:04 ↗ sounds like

1:25:05 ↗ great okay so with that fantastic

1:25:09 ↗ summary uh next item of business is good

1:25:12 ↗ of the order anyone have any

1:25:16 ↗ items

1:25:18 ↗ okay fantastic with no items I'm going

1:25:22 ↗ to adjourn the meeting at 7 57 p.m thank

1:25:25 ↗ you everyone

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

Open PDF

Attendance

Council / Members (7)

Barbara de Michele

Zach Hall

Victoria Hunt

Russell Joe

Tola Marts

Chris Reh

Lindsey Walsh

Staff (3)

Wally Bobkiewicz, City Administrator

Andrea Snyder, Deputy City Administrator

Tisha Gieser, City Clerk