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The Birch Bay Incorporation Feasibility Study-Final Report, March 2008
The Appendices are:
A. BB Police Contract Options provided by the Whatcom County Sheriff
B. BB Demographic & Market Assessment
C. Community Outreach Materials & Summary of Community Feedback
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Final Report |
Appendices |
November 22, 2008
To: Whatcom County Council Members
CC: County Executive Pete Kremen, Director of Public Works Frank Abart, Joe Rutan, Kathy Berg
From: Doralee Booth
Co-chair Transportation/Public Safety Implementation Subcommittee
Birch Bay
Re: Ordinance adopting the Whatcom County Six-Year Capital Improvement Program for 2009-2014 (AB2008-349)
For your information:
Ø The assessed property value of the Birch Bay UGA is….approx. $1.07 billion.
Ø The County road tax from Birch Bay @ 1.52/1000 is…..approx $1.6 million.
Ø There are 40 miles of public roads in Birch Bay.
Ø Birch Bay tax parcels are paying at the rate of $40,660 per mile of road in the UGA each year.
Ø REET funds collected from the Birch Bay UGA
2004……$476, 353.33
2005……$847, 310.80
2006……$478,605.81
2007……$471,303.01
Total REET from 2004-2007 from the Birch Bay UGA = $2,273,572.95
In the light of this number crunching at budget time, it is extremely disappointing and frustrating that “according to Whatcom County, investments in road design and construction projects in Birch Bay have totaled about $600,000 over the last six years, mostly for a structural overlay for Alderson Road.” (This information was given by the County to Berk and Assoc. while preparing the Birch Bay Incorporation Feasibility Study)
Ø A number of important capital projects promised to the Birch Bay community remain unfunded due to the recent economic conditions. Progress has come to a halt once again.
Ø Due to the mystery of and lack of transparency in the funding process of projects on the TIP the taxpayer in Whatcom County will never know where the money went when times were good. Does even the Council know? All we know in Birch Bay is that the money for our priority road projects listed on the TIP didn’t come here.
Ø Presently, not a shovel full of dirt has been turned on the Lincoln Road project which was promised to the Birch Bay and Semiahmoo communities by Executive Kremen in 2005 and has appeared on the TIP since 1993.
Ø The County, since 1976, has refused to see the significance of and consistently fund the Birch Bay Shoreline Berm Project which could have huge economic benefits for Birch Bay and Whatcom County.
Real Estate Excise Taxes (REET) collected from the Birch Bay UGA have not found their way back to this community. The County’s allocation of REET funds of 60% to roads and 40% to parks seems to have gone elsewhere as well. Maybe it is time for the County to send growth elsewhere if there are no real predictable plans to fund the necessary services for that growth.
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The REET (Real Estate Excise Tax) revenue generated by the Birch Bay UGA from 2004 thru Sept. 2008 as reported by the Whatcom County Treasurer's Office.
Amount 0.5% Rate
2004 $95,270,665.42 $476,353.33
2005 $169,462,167.22 $847,310.84
2006 $95,721,163.62 $478,605.82
2007 $94,260,602.00 $471,303.01
2008 $37,683,074.16 $188,415.37
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REET 2004-2008 |
At the Sept. 8, 2008 meeting of the ExploreIncorp group, those present agreed that the most important next step toward incorporation for Birch Bay is education and providing accurate information (feeling, generally, that incorporation is inevitable, it's just a matter of when). It was agreed that the single most prevalent concern and misconception is that taxes will go up automatically, therefore that issue must be addressed first & foremost. It was agreed that the top 3 Pros for incorporation are: #1) 24/7 Police Protection, #2) Local Control/Accountability of Taxes and, #3) Local Control of Land Use and Development including Design Guidelines/Character.
The group agreed to meet next on Monday, Oct. 13th at 7pm at the Church to begin addressing & writing about the issues stated above and as delineated in the Feedback Summary on page 9 of Appendix C found on the Incorporation page of www.birchbayinfo.org
Homework for this next meeting is to read, think about and begin writing your thoughts about the above.
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| Feasibility Meeting Materials |
Initial results from Birch Bay study released
By Tara Nelson from the Dec. 6 - 12, 2007 edition of The Northern Light
When Whatcom County adopted the Birch Bay subarea plan in 2004, it recommended that Birch Bay eventually be incorporated into a city to maintain adequate levels of service to residents there.
But as the population and construction in the once-rural community continues to grow by leaps and bounds, many residents are debating not if, but rather how and when it should happen.
In a special meeting of the Birch Bay Steering Committee last Monday, residents and property owners heard preliminary results of a study conducted by Berk and Associates, a planning firm hired by Whatcom County to examine the feasibility of such an incorporation.
Residents had several questions including how much such an incorporation would cost and if neighborhoods, such as Birch Bay Village, could opt out of such an agreement.
Brett Sheckler, an economist and financial analyst with Berk and Associates who helped coordinate the study, however, said that would be a question for the voters if and when it is put before them on the ballot.
?City boundaries are the one time the residents will have a say,? he said.
No official boundaries have been drawn but an earlier survey was sent to all addresses in the Birch Bay urban growth area which represents about 5,900 permanent residents.
Sheckler said while their goal is not to dictate policy, many small communities such as Birch Bay chose to incorporate to have more control over their tax dollars. Whatcom County residents, for example, pay approximately $1.57 per $1,000 of assessed home valuation to pay for road improvements across the county.
If Birch Bay incorporated, that would disappear and the new town could collect its own taxes (estimated at $1.40 per $1,000) to be used for road improvements within the Birch Bay UGA.
Sheckler, however, said the question of economic feasibility comes down to preferences.
?Any city is feasible depending on what level of service you expect,? he said. ?Some cities make it a priority to keep taxes low and there are certainly cities in Washington state that have very low levels of service as a result. But it?s not something that?s going to be imposed on anyone.?
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| Proposed Scope of Work-Incorporation Feasibility Study |
| Guide to Incorporation in WA |
The above is a publication by the Municipal Research and Services Center (www.mrsc.org). It's called the Municipal Incorporation Guide and it was either written or updated in 2006. The MRSC site can be incredibly useful.
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