Consultants release revised Fairwood Incorporation Study; meeting March 19
Published 9:47 am Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The revised financial analysis of a proposed City of Fairwood takes some money away and gives some back, leaving the core finding intact – revenues still exceed expenses for the city.
The Redmond-based consulting firm of Henderson, Young and Co. released the revised Fairwood Incorporation Study Monday. Also, released was a Frequently Asked Questions document that offers detailed information about concerns raised by residents.
The six major financial changes from the draft to this version of the report are highlighted at the beginning of the new report.
The revised study is available at rentonreporter.com, along with the City of Renton response to the draft study.
Many of those concerns were voiced Feb. 9 at a community meeting attended by about 200 people at Northwood Middle School. A similar meeting is planned for March 19, at which the consultants will present the revised study and take more questions and comments.
From that meeting the consultants will prepare a final report for presentation on April 16 to the Washington state Boundary Review Board for King County, which commissioned the study. The board will hold a public hearing, tentatively scheduled for the last week in May, then make its own incorporation recommendation.
The final decision rests with the voters of Fairwood, who will likely go to the polls this fall on whether to incorporate.
After the meeting, the consultants mined deeper for information from King County about the revenues generated in the Fairwood annexation area.
Only one piece of new information – about the Real Estate Excise Tax, levied when a house is sold – changed an original assumption and a revision of the consultants’ methodology, according to consultant Randy Young.
The consultants had used a standard assumption that houses turn over every seven years, Young said. For some at the community meeting, that didn’t seem to reflect what was happening in Fairwood.
So, the consultants obtained from the county the actual sales figures and excise tax collected in Fairwood.
“People were right,” said Young. “Activity was not as robust as we assumed.”
On the other hand, the activity wasn’t as weak as some in the audience had thought, he said.
The new figures meant the consultants had to reduce the revenue in the street maintenance fund by $250,000, according to Young. However, further analysis and updated information from the county revealed more revenue in other parts of the street fund than previously thought, so the loss was more than covered.
A significant change was in the transportation impact fees. Initially, the consultants applied the county’s lowest rate to construction activity, resulting in a revenue estimate of about $300,000. But using the actual revenue calculations for Fairwood, the revenue is almost $535,000.
A City of Fairwood would have three main budget funds – general, surface water management and street maintenance – all of which have their own sources of money. In the final analysis, revenues still exceed expenses in the modeling done by the consultants, according to Young.
The consultants also double-checked with the county the figures it had received regarding assessed valuations, according to Young. The figures were for 2006, although they were in a report dated 2007. So, using the actual 2007 figures, property tax revenue, which is based on assessed values, increased by about $250,000 over the original estimates.
The state of the economy also was on the minds of residents at the Feb. 9 meeting, leading to questions about why not factor in such economic downturns into the analysis. The consultants answer that question in depth in a separate Frequently Asked Questions report. The answer is still the same, Young said, that the consultants were using an average year and weren’t trying to predict when the economy would recover.by the Redmond-based consulting firm of Henderson, Young and Co.
DETAILS OF MARCH 19 MEETING
The public can comment on the revised study 5:30 p.m. to 7:35 p.m. Thursday, March 19, at the Northwood Middle School cafeteria, 17007 S.E. 184th St., Fairwood.
The schedule is similar to the Feb. 9 meeting.
• 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., sign-in and copies of the revised study are available for review.
• 6 p.m. to 6:35 p.m., team presentation
• 6:35 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., question-and-answer session.
KING COUNTY/RENTON FAIRWOOD SURVEY
KING COUNTY/RENTON FAIRWOOD SURVEY FINAL
MARCH REVISED FAIRWOOD INCORPORATION STUDY
March Revised Fairwood Report 090309
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT FAIRWOOD INCORPORATION
THE FIRST DRAFT OF THE FAIRWOOD INCORPORATION STUDY
Fairwood Report and Model 090129
THE 2006 BERK FAIRWOOD INCORPORATION STUDY
CITY OF RENTON RESPONSE FOR FAIRWOOD INCORPORATION STUDY
