SEQUIM — Another tax levy or creating a new metropolitan park district?
One way or another, Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center officials say they are determined to keep the doors open after a property tax levy failed by a narrow margin this month.
“The board is 100 percent behind making certain that SARC continues,” said Frank Pickering, board chairman, at a special meeting Wednesday night.
“The question of method is one that we have to discuss.”
The public aquatic and fitness complex at 610 N. Fifth Ave. is at risk of closing after a proposed six-year property tax levy failed to reach the 60 percent supermajority it needed to pass Feb. 10.
The levy received 57.5 percent support, with 7,258 voting yes and 5,368 voting no.
“We came so close,” Pickering told nearly 100 supporters who gathered in the center’s gymnasium Wednesday.
“We shocked a bunch of people with how many people voted yes.”
Two options
Looking ahead, SARC officials have two realistic options to keep the facility open.
The board of SARC, officially Clallam County Parks and Recreation District 1, could decide to seek another property tax levy at 12 cents for each $1,000 of assessed property valuation.
Or it could seek reforming as a metropolitan park and recreation district with control of the property tax rate vested in a new board.
The “metro” option would require a petition signed by 15 percent of registered voters in the district — which runs parallel to the Clallam County portion of the Sequim School District — or approval of an interlocal agreement with Clallam County commissioners and the Sequim City Council, officials said.
But unlike a levy, the metropolitan park district could be formed by a simple majority of voters and not expire in six years.
“As somebody once said, a levy is nothing more than a Band-Aid,” said Gil Goodman, SARC board member.
“It is time for a new approach. The formation of a metro similar to the very successful one that is in place at William Shore [Memorial] Pool in Port Angeles is our goal.
“The fact that a metro requires only a 50 percent vote and does not have to be re-voted every six years makes it a very attractive and attainable long-term solution for SARC’s annual financial shortfall problem,” Goodman added.
Built in 1988
The facility was built with public money in 1988 and run for the first 13 years with funds as a junior taxing district.
Since then, it has relied on reserves, which will run dry in 2016.
The rejected levy proposal was the first public funding sought by the district since 2003.
“The public will is out there,” Pickering said.
“They want SARC to continue. We have to find the method to make sure that we make positive that we will be able to continue. It’s the opinion of many of the board members that we have to get this settled in the August election.”
No formal action was taken Wednesday.
The bulk of the meeting was spent in a question-and-answer session with SARC attorney Craig Miller, who explained the nuances of the two options.
“The main advantage to a metropolitan park district is that it has a separate property tax levy which does not have to be voted every six years,” Miller said.
The disadvantage to the metro option, he said, is getting it passed in a one-time election.
“Once it is established, it stays in effect just like the rest of your tax levies from the hospital, the port, the county, the city,” Miller said.
The metropolitan park district would be governed by a new five-member board that would establish the levy amount.
State law allows a maximum levy of 75 cents per $1,000.
PA-area pool
The William Shore Memorial Pool District in Port Angeles, which became a metropolitan park district in 2009, is assessing about 15 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, Miller said.
The Port Angeles-area district was formed through interlocal agreement.
Its board is composed of two Clallam County commissioners, two Port Angeles City Council members and one at-large member selected by the four elected officials.
Goodman, a sixth-year SARC board member, said he would favor the interlocal route.
“I’d like the county and the city to get involved with SARC,” he said.
“Then they’d have some skin in the game. It’s their facility just as much as ours.”
But Sherry Nagel, SARC board vice chairwoman, said she would prefer a citizens petition.
“It is a hard decision to make,” she said.
“We’ve had a little bit of discussion with some of the City Council folks. My concern is I’m not sure they have an appetite to go for a metro this soon in August.”
No other board members announced a preference at the meeting.
Past SARC boards have shied away from the formation of a metropolitan park district because it would supplant the existing board, Goodman said.
“The average SARC user does not care one bit about who is on the board as long as the facility is available, clean and offered at a fair price,” Goodman said.
SARC features
SARC has a 25-yard, six-lane pool; shallow pool; hydrotherapy pool; saunas; cardio and weight equipment; along with basketball and racquetball courts.
It has a partnership agreement with Olympic Medical Center in which patients can receive post-cardiopulmonary recovery care, and discussions are in the works for more rehab programs.
SARC is home to the Sequim High School swim teams.
More and more people are using the facility, Pickering said, with membership up by more than 25 percent from last year.
Under the leadership of Executive Director Scott Deschenes, SARC is meeting its target of recovering 80 percent of its expenses in user fees, Pickering added.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
