When election ballots are mailed next week, Vashon residents will determine if they will continue to fund the Vashon Park District for four more years.
A group of volunteers has already begun campaigning for the levy, encouraging islanders to vote yes despite the district’s recent struggles. Meanwhile, the park district’s director is making preliminary plans for how the agency could move forward should the levy fail.
“It is really important because the only funding we have is through the levy,” said commissioner Lu-Ann Branch, who urged people who appreciate Vashon parks to vote yes.
“The levy provides experiences,” she added.
The park district’s maintenance and operations levy is one of only two issues on the ballot and calls for a tax on island property owners of 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. The measure would continue the existing levy, which expires at the end of 2015, not impose a new tax. These funds — which cost the owner of a $500,000 home $250 a year — fund the park district’s operations and upkeep of its parks and properties.
Traditionally, park levy elections have drawn considerable support on the island, including the last levy, in 2009, which passed with nearly 70 percent of the vote. This year, however, some say the situation may be different, as the intervening years have been difficult for the district, with reduced levy funds because of decreased property values, what many see as overspending at the VES Fields and two reports from the state auditor that cited concerns, among other problems. While much attention has been paid to difficulties at the district, those supporting the levy say it is time to look ahead.
“This is not about the past. It is about the future,” said Kristin Pesman, a former park commissioner who is heading the Friends of the Parks, a volunteer group supporting the levy. “We can deal with the past in November elections. We need to separate the two out.”
Park supporters note, too, that there are positive developments at the district: the new skate bowl installed last winter is popular and construction was finished on time and on budget; island equestrians are working to improve Paradise Ridge Park with district support, and a group of volunteers has stepped up to increase the swimming season and is working toward obtaining a seasonal enclosure for the pool.
Countering the yes effort is island activist Hilary Emmer, who is asking islanders to vote no in April, but then pass a 45-cent levy in November. Emmer, who wrote the no statement in the voter’s pamphlet, said she does not want to see parks defunded completely, but that she wants to see more programming at the district, as there used to be.
“I am hoping the community will demand the park district go back to where they were before,” she said. “Do we want a park district that is just a bunch of parks, or do we want programs generated there? I think that is the conversation we should have. What do we want it to be, and what do we want it to offer?”
Additionally, Emmer noted that the district will have about $250,000 of additional discretionary income in 2016 because it is paying off some debt associated with the fields and completing work on the VES Fields this year.
The 5-cent rate difference she is proposing would not matter much in most people’s pocketbooks, she said, and noted that her position is not about money, but principal.
“I want a park district, and I want a vibrant one,” she said. “Only if we vote no will we make an impression that things needs to change.”
For her part, Ott, who manages the budget, said the financial difficulties of recent years have meant that the park district has a backlog of deferred maintenance, and as the district moves beyond its “beans and rice” budget, as commissioner Bill Ameling calls it, there is much work to be done: The field at Agren Park must be regraded; the wall at Inspiration Point is crumbling and needs to be rebuilt, the pool needs refurbishing, and many picnic tables and bollards are rotting and need to be replaced. Additionally, the Tramp Harbor dock was recently deemed unsafe, and the engineers’ estimate to repair 11 failing pilings was some $300,000.
“We have all kinds of projects we need to address,” she said.
At the park district, commissioners recently decided not to discuss how to move ahead if the levy fails, a position Ameling recently reiterated.
“There are many issues with closing the parks. The board will look into these only if the levy fails,” he wrote in a recent email to The Beachcomber. “Elaine, in her position as director, is preparing a levy failure plan. She is just being prepared.”
While state law prohibits Ott from promoting the levy as part of her job, it allows her to provide information on the district, the plans she has prepared and what might unfold should the levy fail. If that were to happen, Ott said, the commissioners would determine how to proceed. In one option, the district could continue with the present budget and hold another levy election in November, she said. But if that failed, the coffers would be empty.
“If the levy failed then, we would have no money in 2016,” she said. “None.”
In the second option, commissioners could adopt a contingency budget that would stretch the remaining levy money from May through 2016, cutting the district’s monthly budget by more than half, to about $50,000. In this case also, they would hold another levy election in November.
Regardless, if commissioners have to hold a third election — in 2016 — those funds would not come to the district until 2017.
Elections are costly for districts to run; King County’s bill for the April election will likely be $20,000 to $23,000, Ott said, and a November election would likely carry a similar price tag.
While it is not clear which path the commissioners would choose, Ott said she believes significant cutbacks would be likely if they chose the latter option. Currently, she said, with six full-time and eight part-time staff people, wages account for nearly half of the budget.
“It stands to reason that cuts would be made,” she said.
In such a situation, services would also likely be reduced, but she said preservation of park district assets would be her priority and she would solicit help from the volunteers associated with each park and map out a maintenance plan.
However, the situation at some properties, such as the VES Fields, which requires considerable maintenance, and the Vashon Pool, is complicated and expensive. At the pool, Ott noted summer payroll averages about $20,000 per month, possibly too much to support with reduced funds.
“If the commissioners moved to a contingency budget, I do not see how the pool could open this summer,” she said.
Additionally, if the district had no funds in 2016, it could not afford insurance on its properties, which could result in park closures.
“We don’t know the insurance options,” Ameling wrote in his email. “If the parks are open with no regular maintenance or safety supervision, this certainly changes liability issues. … If a group wants to keep a park open and somebody gets hurt, who will pay?”
It is against this backdrop that Pesman stepped forward to galvanize forces to try to ensure a successful levy election for the district.
“Having parks says a lot about the soul of our community,” she said.
In recent weeks, she has recruited representatives of park user groups, she said, and now that group has created ads for the Vashon Theatre, Voice of Vashon radio and The Beachcomber. Calling it a low-budget, grassroots operation, she said they will also make signs for kids to hold and wave in town when voting gets closer and other signs for people to put in their cars.
Acknowledging there are different views on the levy, supporters are encouraging the public simply to vote.
In order for King County to validate the election, 2,088 voters must participate in this election, and for the measure to pass, 60 percent of those, or 1,253, need to vote yes.
King County will mail ballots on April 8, and they must be postmarked no later than April 28.
With only two issues to consider on the ballot, Pesman noted voting will be fast and easy.
“Open it. Mark it. Mail it,” she said.
