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• Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Join hatchery advisory group Nominate Issaquah residents as the state Department of Fish and Wildlife seeks members for the Puget Sound Hatchery Action advisory group. The agency is accepting applications through June 3 for the new board. Officials plan to appoint up to 12 people to the group. The advisory group is responsible for developing recommendations for potential modifications to the state’s hatchery programs. The state operates the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery downtown. Nominations must be submitted in writing and include: Nominee’s name, address, tele-
phone number and email address Relevant experience and reasons for wanting to serve as a member Nominee’s effectiveness in communication Name and contact information for any individual or organization submitting a nomination Submit nominations to Heather Bartlett, Hatcheries Division manager, by mail to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, 600 Capitol Way N., Olympia, WA 98501. Or, email materials to heather.bartlett@dfw.wa.gov. Call Bartlett at 360-902-2662 to learn more.
Rates
RECENT RATE INCREASES
FROM PAGE A1
“We’ve got ratepayers living in Providence Point,” he said. “They’re not seeing an increase in their Social Security payments — they’re living on a fixed income.” To raise rates “in one fell swoop like this is a little bit much,” he said. Hike lays foundation for replacements Officials said more than onethird of the increase is for the district’s replacement fund — a 4year-old account aimed at banking money for the replacement of aging infrastructure. The district has pipes approaching 40 or 50 years old in some older developments on the Sammamish Plateau. Officials aim to make current ratepayers shoulder future costs. “The commissioners believe it’s their responsibility to set some of these funds aside … so that that burden is supported by the system’s current users rather than shifted to future users of the system,” Krauss said. In addition to rising gas and electricity prices, Krauss said the district also has numerous employees approaching the higher end of the district’s salary ladder — meaning increases in personnel costs. The cost of health care has also been rising at about 6 percent per year. Barton said 2 percent of the water rate increase and 1.6 percent of the sewer rate increase is due to rising operating expenses. The district is also feeling a crunch from the downturn in construction due to a drop-off in development fees. Krauss said the district’s operat-
Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District customers start paying more for water and sewer service June 1. The district has also increased rates in recent years: 2006 — 4 percent 2007 — 0 percent 2008 — 9 percent 2009 — 7 percent 2010 — 7.5 percent 2011 — 13 percent Source: Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District
ing budget is affected by the slowdown, because the district must plan ahead in making capital investments to accommodate future growth. The down economy also means the district is getting less of a return on its investments through the King County Investment Pool. The fund handles cash reserves for nearly 100 school, fire, and water and sewer districts in the county. Harman said investing in the replacement fund is good policy in order to avoid the potential of even larger and more sudden rate increases as the district’s infrastructure starts needing replacement in the coming years. But he said the agency could find ways to trim costs in next year’s budget. “We’ve got to find some cost-cutting,” he said. “We just can’t sustain these types of rate increases.” Caleb Heeringa: 392-6434, ext. 247, or cheeringa@isspress.com. Warren Kagarise: 392-6434, ext. 234, or wkagarise@isspress.com. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.
The Issaquah Press
Awards FROM PAGE A1
Kagarise earned second place in the Government and Politics Reporting category for a piece about legislative election battlegrounds. Kagarise also earned third place for Spot News Reporting for Lake Sammamish State Park shootings coverage. Star Editor Dan Catchpole took third place in the Government and Politics Reporting category for a piece about King County Sheriff’s Office deputy salaries, a subject of intense focus amid cuts last year. Cetron earned third place in the Editorial and Commentary category for urging Sen. Cheryl Pflug to show up more often for votes.
Bond FROM PAGE A1
Superintendent Ron Thiele said. In another instance, the committee added a remodel of the Maple Hills Elementary School office, costing a projected $35,000. The remodel would give office staff a view of the front door, helping the school’s safety monitoring. The committee unanimously approved the bond proposal April 26, allowing the bond to move to its third phase: the superintendent’s review. Superintendent Steve Rasmussen attended all of the committee’s meetings, and he will spend the next month analyzing and possibly changing the proposal before he presents it to the school board in June. Rasmussen, with a team of administrators, will examine the original springboard, the committee’ proposal, the feasibility of voters’ approval and the taxpayers’ burden. He will make a recommendation to the board, which will review the proposed bond this summer. By fall, the board will decide whether to put the bond before voters, likely in February or April. In the fifth and final step, voters will have their say. The bond needs a supermajority of 60 percent to pass. Voters passed the most recent district bond with a 68 percent approval rating in 2006 for a bond of $241.8 million.
WHAT TO KNOW
The Issaquah Press earned several honors in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Northwest Excellence in Journalism contest last week. Read the award-winning pieces in the online version of this article at www.issaquahpress.com. First place The Issaquah Press, General Excellence — Nondaily Newspapers Laura Geggel, Environment and Science Reporting — ‘Windy and wet: Snoqualmie Valley’s weird weather’ Second place Ari Cetron, Environment and Science Reporting — ‘Local invention deployed to Gulf oil-cleanup effort’ Laura Geggel, Education
The more the district can collect in voter-approved bond money, the less it has to rely on its general fund to pay for maintenance, Rasmussen said. Bond money can only be used for school construction or repair. On the other hand, the general fund pays for items including teacher salaries and school supplies. If the district does not have bond money, it will have to dip into its general fund to fix malfunctioning buildings. “We want to make sure we have quality schools for kids,” he said. No matter the state of the economy, parents and the community expect Issaquah to have the best schools, programs and teachers for students, and the bond can help the district do that, he added. Items on the list Though still fluid, the committee’s bond proposal adds a number of renovations to the district. Apollo Elementary School and Beaver Lake, Maywood, Pacific Cascade and Pine Lake middle schools would each get a new artificial-turf field, costing $1.3 million apiece. All of those schools have muddy fields in winter, making them temporarily unusable. Although an elementary school, Apollo was added to the list because few schools in the southern part of the district have a synthetic field, and the district wanted that community to have equal access to fields when school was not in session, Thiele said. The artificial fields will help finances in the long term, saving money on custodial work and maintenance, such as mowing, watering, fertilizing and aerating.
Reporting — ‘Mock crash and funeral encourage safety’ David Hayes, Health Reporting — ‘Swedish teams combine efforts in new atrial fibrillation procedure’ Warren Kagarise, Government and Politics Reporting — ‘Battleground for Legislature runs through Issaquah’ Third place Dan Catchpole, Government and Politics Reporting — ‘King County deputies’ pay rates outpace Eastside departments’ Ari Cetron, Editorial and Commentary — ‘Sen. Pflug needs to show up’ Warren Kagarise, Environment and Science Reporting — ‘City makes history in effort to turn restaurants “green”’ Warren Kagarise, Spot News Reporting — ‘“All hell broke loose”’
GET INVOLVED Email thoughts or suggestions about the proposed 2012 bond to bond2012@issaquah.wednet.edu.
The proposed bond also includes new rubber floors for areas in 10 schools across the district. The rubber — already installed at the new Issaquah High School — lasts longer than carpet, is quieter to walk on than vinyl and is easy to clean, Thiele said. The proposed bond would also improve Skyline’s athletic space. Many of the benches on the school’s homeside bleachers have snapped at the base. School staff members have removed the broken bleachers, meaning fans have to stand during games. The bleachers also have no rain cover. With the bond, Skyline would convert its homeside bleachers to visitors’ seating, receive a rain cover for its new homeside seating and get a larger press box, more bathrooms, concessions and weatherproof storage, costing $6.8 million. The project would make Skyline on par with the other high schools, one of the missions of the bond. “There was a big discussion about equity,” Thiele said. “You should have equal facilities.” Laura Geggel: 392-6434, ext. 241, or lgeggel@isspress.com. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.
School district awards Maywood contract Six contractors submitted bids for the Maywood Middle School addition and modernization; M.J. Takisaki Inc. was awarded the project. The Seattle company gave the lowest base bid at $11.8 million in a range of base bids that went as high as $13.2 million. After accepting the base bid, district staff members agreed to several more construction projects at the school, including a new elevator and fire alarm system, as well as new partitions and music storage rooms, bringing the bid to about $12.2 million. Finally, the district agreed to a Washington state sales tax of about $1 million, bringing the final bid to $13.2 million. The Issaquah School board approved the bid at its April 28 meeting. Maywood’s modernization and expansion is slated for completion by August 2012.
Dollars steered to economic development projects King County leaders scrapped the outdated Economic Enterprise Corp. and directed funds from the program to economic development programs throughout the region. The legislation approved May 2 by the County Council directs almost all of the $95,000 remaining in the corporation to be disbursed to smaller projects. The beneficiaries include $10,000 for the Puget Sound Regional Council — the planning authority for King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties — to update a regional economic strategy and $20,000 for the county Department of Natural Resources and Parks. “This small investment can make a big difference for our economy,” Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, a co-sponsor of the legislation and the Issaquah representative, said in a release. Created in 1984, the Economic Enterprise Corp. issued industrial revenue bonds to economic development in the county. The agency issued bonds totaling more than $48 million and created more than 600 jobs. State lawmakers created the Washington Economic Development Finance Authority in 1990. The statewide agency served the same purpose as the county’s Economic Enterprise Corp. Eliminating the county agency eliminates duplication and saves money.
No. 1 again!
Society of Professional Journalists has named The Issaquah Press the Best Non-Daily for two years running. A great community deserves a great newspaper!
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