SEQUIM — After Tuesday’s defeat of a measure to form a metropolitan park district to solely fund Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center, facility officials are scrambling to find enough money to stay open.
At the same time, the city is likely to consider asking voters to approve a citywide metropolitan park district, perhaps as soon as February, the interim city manager said.
Voters rejected the measure, which required a simple majority for passage, in initial primary election returns by 4,745 votes, or 59.74 percent, opposed to 3,198 votes, or 40.26 percent, in favor. The next ballot count is scheduled Friday.
The measure would have provided funding for the facility at 610 N. Fifth Ave. — known by the acronym SARC — which includes the city’s only public pool.
SARC board members have said that without the funding generated through a park district, the facility will run out of funds by December 2016 and may close before then.
“This is terrible news for eastern Clallam County and its residents,” said Frank Pickering, SARC board chair.
“SARC has been an institution for this area for many years. It is key to the attraction to this area for very many people that come here as retirees and as people who work in the community.”
Such a closure would require the Sequim High School swim team, which uses the facility for training and events, to seek another venue.
High school officials don’t have a contingency plan at this time and will look into other options should the need arise, said Dave Ditlefsen, Sequim School District athletic director.
In 2014, SARC had an income of $877,921.80 and expenditures of $1,117,852.64 — which led to a net loss of nearly $240,000.
That trend is continuing in 2015 with a total income projected to be $935,600 and projected expenditures of $1,209,100 — leading to the potential net loss of $273,500.
While the future looks bleak for SARC, “I will not give up,” Pickering vowed.
“I will try to find something. I will be working with community leaders.”
The ballot measure had said a property tax levy of 12 cents or less per $1,000 of assessed property valuation was recommended — the same amount voters failed to approve by a supermajority in a SARC levy election in February.
A 12-cent annual levy would have cost the owner of a $200,000 home $24 a year to support the metropolitan park district.
And while the measure called on a new board of commissioners — elected at the same time as voter approval of the district was sought — to adhere to a 12-cent levy, they could have chosen any other value up to 75 cents in accordance with state law without further voter approval.
Once created, such a tax would have been permanent.
The City Council on April 27 endorsed efforts to pursue the feasibility of placing 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.
And last month, Clallam County Assessor Pam Rushton, citing the state Department of Revenue, said two park districts wouldn’t be allowed to exist within the same jurisdiction.
But now, the city is free to pursue its own metropolitan park district.
The date for placing a measure on the general election in November was Tuesday. The deadline for the February special election is Dec. 11.
“I think the direction is to go ahead with that,” said Craig Ritchie, interim city manager.
“We can, I believe, put together something by that time.”
The City Council may begin discussions on the issue as soon as its regular meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, Ritchie said.
The city would work with all of the user groups in the area, he said.
“We’ve got to get all of the stakeholder groups supporting it, work with the county [and] work with SARC . . . and see what we can do because the money is limited. But it doesn’t all have to be done in one year either,” he said.
“We are trying to get the groups together that are interested in having that go and have a broad-based user group with a business plan showing how things will work.”
And while “there is a lot of work to do, it is pretty stimulating because there is a need and an opportunity for all sorts of things that will benefit everybody in the area,” he said.
“I don’t think anybody wants to see SARC fail,” Ritchie said.
“We have already supported the opportunity fund grant that they may need if their HVAC [heating, ventilating and air conditioning] system goes bad.”
In April, the SARC board began seeking $386,100 in Clallam County Opportunity Funds to replace the outdated system, and the City Council endorsed the request.
The HVAC system, which circulates fresh air into the indoor pool room known as a natatorium, was installed 18 years ago and is on its last legs, Pickering has said.
“The SARC board, because of their preparation of the tax levy, asked us to just put that on ice,” said Jim McEntire, who represents District 1, the east side of the county, on the Clallam County Board of Commissioners.
“Depending on the outcome of the election yesterday [Tuesday], they may reactivate their request or they may not. It is in kind of a deferred status.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.