Sammamish budget priorities: parks, roads

By Sonia Krishnan
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Lots of housing, little open space and a shortage of roads have left Sammamish city leaders scrambling to play catch-up with the pace of growth in the 5-year-old city.

"We're fairly widely known as the poster child for bad development," Mayor Kathy Huckabay said.

That's why the city wants to devote more than half of its next $87 million budget to parks and transportation. The 2005-2006 plan will go before the City Council Dec. 7 for a final vote.

The budget calls for $47 million to improve parks, streets, surface-water management and to build a new city hall.

"That's a phenomenal amount for a city our size," said finance director Lyman Howard. "All the growth has had a major impact on expenditures, particularly with parks and roads."

Previously the city had concentrated on revamping major arterials such as 228th Avenue Northeast. But for the past two years, the city committed 82 percent of its parks and transportation budget to road construction, while 18 percent was earmarked for parks.

Priorities flipped this year, with the City Council emphasizing open space.

"We could have put a lot more money into roads, but traffic is a regionwide problem," Huckabay said. "We realized we couldn't fix it for the whole area, so we thought we'd focus on what could make this community more livable."

On the list for 2005 are creating Ebright Creek Park, building a community sports field at Eastlake High School, cutting trails and other park projects.

The city gets 66 percent of its revenue from property taxes, but residents won't see an increase in property-tax rates next year. They will stay at $2.61 per $1,000 of assessed value, or $261 per $100,000 of assessed value.
 
Meantime, the cost of public-safety services will rise by $1 million for 2005.

The city also plans to hire a new police officer through its contract with the King County Sheriff's Office.

Sonia Krishnan: 206-515-5546 or skrishnan@seattletimes.com