Ugh. I haven’t been in a meeting this insufferable since the vote to move City Hall. Sorry councilors, but it was a swing-and-a-miss on the budget tonight. I take that back; the bat never left their shoulders as they watched strike two sail across the middle of the plate.

The head city staffers asked the councilors to do two things tonight:  (1) Review the “program enhancements” to the budget, which includes new staff positions, software, and equipment, and (2) Decide whether or not to increase the utility tax from 2.25% to 3%.

You’ve already read the title of this discussion, but I’ll give you the quiz anyway. What actions did the council take on these two issues?

(A) Had a discussion and made a decision on what to cut from program enhancements
(B) Had a discussion and made a decision on the utility tax
(C) Made a decision on both A and B
(D) Didn’t make any decisions, and asked the City Manager to review the budget again, even though there are less than 5 hours of meeting time this year to make a final decision, and they’ve already had 2-1/2 months to review it and make suggestions.

If you guessed anything but (D), I have to believe this is the first time you’ve read this blog, and you are forgiven. Alright, let’s do this!

The Pledge of Allegiance
I don’t normally comment on this, but a Webelos troop served as a color guard, and one young fellow led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Everyone was smiling, even the people with permanent frowns. If you don’t know, the Webelos is part of the Boy Scouts of America, and it’s the age group between Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts (I was one). Great job, guys!

Public Comment:  The Twitter Version
Chamber of Commerce: Please don’t raise taxes.
EBT Theater Group: Please come visit our theater.
Cheryl Castagna:  Please don’t raise taxes.

Public Hearing
Tonight was your opportunity to weigh in on a proposed increase in the School Impact Fee. If you’re building a single-family residence, it’ll cost you an additional $414. If you’re building a multi-family residence (condos, etc), it’ll cost you an additional $631.

The most interesting part of the discussion was when the impact fee should be collected. A representative from the Master Builders Association said it would be better if that fee was charged directly to the new homeowner, rather than making the developer pay it ahead of time, then charge interest to the homeowner. One advocate for the schools said that schools need time to prepare for incoming students, and need the impact fee sooner than the day they move in and send the kid to school. I don’t have many facts here, so I’ll leave this discussion for smarter people.

Budget Review (again)
I opened up this discussion with a general overview of what went on Monday night. There are a lot of the details that might make you shake your head, but I’m going to try to keep this to the Executive Summary format.

I think the councilors seemed a little lost on where to begin. There was some brief discussion of reviewing every line item on the Program Enhancements, and also a suggestion to give it back to the City Manager to review one more time rather than suggesting specific areas to cut. The worst idea was to have the staff present several alternative budgets next week for them to decide on.

If you remember the City Hall decision, you already know this is a bad idea. The councilors were presented three options, and voted down all three before the Mayor stepped up and broke the stalemate.

The City Manager gave a very nice speech about how the staff went about creating the budget before the councilors. The goals were to keep the existing government service levels steady, and only expand in areas where demand is increasing (police sergeant, parks help, etc.). He mentioned that historically, Maple Valley has relied on growth, and permit money to fund services and build up reserves. In the third and fourth quarters of 2007, the Finance Director pointed out that expenditures were finally higher than revenues.

That’s why the utility tax is being looked at. Maple Valley’s tax rate is 2.25%, while nearly every other city that has one is at 6%. The councilors are very reluctant to approve any increase, and two of them (finally) suggested that they only increase it .5% and only for two years. OK if you’re into low tax rates, but not good if you’re planning a budget for 2012 (punt).

Since no one in these other cities seems to be complaining about the 6%, it’s probably safe to increase this one without much political damage. I’m not sure what the financial impact is on businesses, but most households would probably pay $3 or so more per month.

Did any of you keep that 3.75% savings from your utility bills over all these years?

Other Minor Happenings
These items aren’t worthy of a full discussion, but here you go:

* Review of Property Tax Calculations
The net effect of the property tax the city gets will go down about 1%. Your results may vary.

* Fred Meyer Update
They’ve been a little slow to get tenants for the small shops next to the upcoming Fred Meyer at 4 Corners, so the project has been delayed until probably February 2011. Hard to believe it, even though the other three of the corners are strip malls already. We don’t even have check-cashing yet!

* City Council Knows Best
Maple Valley has an ordinance on the books that sets the minimum insurance amounts for “right of way” permit applicants (construction stuff). Apparently, we’ve been setting a much higher rate, which appears to be more than double the industry standards. You know, the industry that does studies on this stuff to create standards for everyone to use.

There was some brief discussion on the dangers of these right-of-way projects, how fast cars go by, and that maybe we needed a much higher rate for some reason. No one knows what that reason is, though, so that debate died fairly quickly. I guess we’ll just have to use “industry standards” instead of being special.

* City Hall Improvements
Because we can’t get everyone to agree not to shoot at the police civilian assistant, we’re going to get a cool bulletproof glass window for the police department. It’s going to cost more than originally quoted, but it’ll be worth it. The old location is fairly isolated, and not secure enough for employees there. If you can believe it, the police regularly have to deal with people that aren’t as rational as you and I.

Well, thanks for reading this far. The council doesn’t meet next week, so maybe some of that hair we pulled out will grow back. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!