SEQUIM — If voters approve creating a metropolitan park district to fund the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center, then the city of Sequim would not be able to form a separate district in the same jurisdiction, the county assessor said.
A metropolitan park district measure on the Aug. 4 primary election ballot would provide funds for the recreation center at 610 N. Fifth Ave. — known by the acronym SARC — which includes the city’s only public pool.
The Sequim City Council on April 27 endorsed efforts to pursue a separate “broad-based” city metropolitan park district, involving more agencies but encompassing the same area as that proposed by SARC on the February 2016 ballot.
However, if voters approve the August measure, the city would not pursue its own district, said City Manager Steve Burkett in May.
“Sequim would be within the jurisdictional boundaries of the MPD that is on the ballot right now,” Pam Rushton, Clallam County assessor, said Tuesday evening.
“You can’t have two MPDs in the same jurisdiction.
“I have asked the Department of Revenue, which oversees our offices, and they are of the opinion that they are not allowed,” Rushton added.
However, since an attempt to create two metropolitan park districts in the same jurisdiction — that of the Sequim School District’s area of Clallam County — would be unprecedented, the ultimate decision would likely be made by the state’s attorney general, Rushton noted.
Tuesday forum
Rushton was one of three guest speakers at an informational forum at the Sequim Transit Center hosted by the League of Woman Voters of Clallam County on Tuesday evening.
The other two speakers were Joe Irvin, assistant to the Sequim city manager, and Steve Burke, executive director of William Shore Memorial Pool in Port Angeles.
The forum was not a debate about the metropolitan park district measure on the ballot but was intended to provide information about how such districts function.
Once a metropolitan park district is approved — such measures need only simple majorities — then the board, which is elected at the same time as voter approval of the district, can levy a permanent property tax without voter approval.
SARC was formed as Clallam County Parks and Recreation District 1, a junior taxing district, in 1988.
A park and recreation district must seek 60 percent supermajority voter approval for levy increases of more than 1 percent.
The Aug. 4 ballot measure proposes a property tax levy of 12 cents or less per $1,000 of assessed property valuation — the same amount voters failed to approve in a SARC levy election in February.
A 12-cent annual levy would cost the owner of a $200,000 home $24 a year to support the metropolitan park district.
Once created, such a levy is permanent.
State law allows a metropolitan park district to levy up to 75 cents of assessed value, but Rushton said that depends on the value of property in the county.
The value fluctuates each year.
For example, Rushton said that if the proposed district existed now using current property values for 2015, the maximum amount allowed would be 35 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation.
At Tuesday’s forum, one of the audience questions was if those living outside the taxing district would be charged more to use the facility than those living within the district.
“The new board would . . . have the ability to formulate whatever kind of charging and fee mechanism they want,” Burke replied.
“I have seen both. We don’t differentiate between ‘in’ district and ‘out’ of district, but it is very common.”
Coffers nearly depleted
Parks and Recreation District 1 ceased to collect taxes in early 2003 after voters failed to ratify various levies floated by the SARC board of directors.
SARC expects to run out of funding by December 2016, with reserves expected to fall below $350,000 by the end of this year.
Ballots in the all-mail election will go out July 15.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
