Maple Valley to vote on annexation

Should residents of the greater Maple Valley-Black Diamond area pay taxes to join the Valley Medical Center hospital district?

That is the question going before voters Tuesday in what has become a hotly divided issue over Valley Medical's desire to annex these rapidly growing markets and expand services in Maple Valley with a new urgent-care clinic.

Hospital district officials say annexation is necessary because their data show that an increasing number of patients from that region go to Valley Medical — and those who use the hospital should pay taxes to support it, they say.

"There's a matter of fairness here," said Joyce Shaw, hospital spokeswoman.

But a storm of criticism has been lobbed at the hospital district in the past several weeks from residents and city officials who have formed citizens' groups and passed resolutions opposing the idea.

"We encourage them to expand — but not if it means taking us into their taxing district," said Maple Valley City Manager Anthony Hemstad. "There are enough facilities that want to open here that are not asking for public subsidies."

Citizens' groups blast the district for what they call "underhanded" methods to get the proposition on the ballot with as little public notice as the law allows.

For instance, they say the district's board of commissioners published legal ads in a local paper — but gave no other notice — about a public meeting held March 15, during which the board passed a resolution allowing the measure to get on Tuesday's ballot.

"They didn't want any time for the public to engage in a normal, healthy debate," said Chris Clifford of Renton, a community activist. Clifford and another resident filed a petition in King County Superior Court last month to change the wording on the upcoming ballot measure to include how much the annexation may cost property owners. The judge ruled in their favor.

"The absolute design was to plow this thing through ... and do everything on the edge of the law," Clifford said. "It's been all about eliminating debate. When you walk this fine line, you cross over it."

Commissioner Gary Kohlwes said the district has nothing to apologize for because it followed the letter of the law.

"I think this is a taxing issue, and people feel strongly about taxes, and rightfully so," Kohlwes said. "I wasn't necessarily expecting it, but anytime you have a taxing measure, there's a certain degree of opposition. In this case, it seems to be well-organized. And that's all right. The voters get a chance to say 'yea' or 'nay.' That's the American way."

Some cities, including Bellevue, are looking at ways to de-annex from the district.

The annexation would be the first for Public Hospital District No. 1, which operates Valley Medical Center in Renton and serves residents in Kent, Renton and Covington and a small slice of Bellevue and Newcastle. The district generates $14 million in taxes and has various primary-care and health-services clinics.

If approved, the annexation would add 25,000 households from the Maple Valley/Black Diamond area, as well as a portion of Enumclaw, Shaw said. More than 400,000 live in the district's boundaries, she said.

Since property values change often, it's unclear exactly how much the annexation would cost each taxpayer. But for 2006, residents paid 59 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to fund the district. That's about $248 for a $419,500 home — the median house price in King County last month.

The annexation is estimated to add about $3 million in annual tax revenue starting in 2008 and would help fund a new urgent-care clinic in Maple Valley, Shaw said. The center would sit on a 162,000-square-foot property at Witte Road Southeast and Southeast 240th Street that was purchased, along with other land investments, for $900,000 in 1997, she said.

Annexation idea

The district began to look at annexation last year when 2005 data submitted to the state and federal government showed that Valley Medical Center saw more people from the Maple Valley/Black Diamond area than five other area hospitals combined. It conducted a survey of more than 40,000 households in the proposed annexation area to gauge the interest of expanding services in Maple Valley.

The district also sent out two mailers — instead of a voters pamphlet — that cost about $31,000, Shaw said. She said it would have cost "much more" to publish and distribute a voters pamphlet.

The mayor of Maple Valley, Laure Iddings, filed a complaint with the state Public Disclosure Commission on May 2 objecting to the district's annexation campaign.

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