Notes:
SB 2499 sponsored by Gordon Herr. D., Seattle. HB 521 has bipartisan sponsorship.
DemocratsInclude Robert Gaines and Frank Warake. both Auburn, and Georgette Vaile,
Seattle. Republicans are Paul Barden. Seattle, and John E. Cunningham. Zenith.
Evergreen would have an estimated population of 200.606, which would make it a
first class county, and another 10,006 would make it an A class county.
Temporarily Stymied
All four measures currently repose fa the Local Government Committees of their
respective houses. All .are technically “dead” for thb session, because they missed
the cutoff date for each house lo consider Us uwn bilb.
But they will gain new life when they, along wUh nil other bilb which failed to pass,
are reintroduced by Joint resolution at the start of the special session.
Thb doesn’t mean there wwll be any vbible signs of the life they have regained.
Soul Searching Next
It variably takes more than one session to pass legislation of thb nature, and in thb
case petitions also are needed.
There would be plenty of time to gather signatures before the 1074 session, but there could be considerable soul searching meantime ns to the costs involved. Those seceding from King County still would be liable for their share of all outstanding Indebtedness of King County: abo of Metro, and of the Port of Seattle.
In addition, they would have lo incur
bonded indebtedness to finance
construction of a courthouse and other
needed faculties.
They also would need an expert analysb to determine if their assessed valuation, along
with the various state revenue they would receive, would support the services they
would have to provide.
Credit Side
On the credit side, they would divest themselves of the extra sain lax now being
levied countywide to help finance the Metro Transit System, and any new taxes which
might be levied by Metro.
According to the way the legblation were drawn, they abo would secede from the Port
of Seattle, and be free of the property tax millage levied by the port.
Probably more important to most proponents of secession, they would have a
greater Boice a their own government they would be free of domination by the
densely concentrated vote In Seattle.
Voice In Port
Meanwhile, resting in the same House Local Government Committee along with the
Cascade and Evergreen County bills measure designed to give the outlying areas
of the Port of Seattle a greater voice in their purl.
Sponsored by King Lysen and Helen Sommers, both Democrats, and Lob North,
Republican, it would Increase membership on Ihe port commission from five to nine
members.
This would be the same number as now-serving on the King County Council. Like the
councilnien. the port commissioners would run for election only within their own
county council district.
At present, all five commissioners run at
large, countywide.
