Shoreline City Council Meeting June 4, 2012

Notes from Shoreline City Council Meeting June 4, 2012

By Devon Vose Rickabaugh

Shoreline School Superintendent Sue Walker requested that the City Council continue to waive the school district’s annual surface water runoff fee of $180,000 in light of the six million dollars in lost school funding from the state legislature. She said that King County allows for public schools to apply for a waiver from the fee in exchange for documenting surface water activities and goals through an approved curriculum which would benefit students and the city.

Public Works Operations Manager Jesus Sanchez said the city had left the school district fee out of its code sixteen years ago and only realized this oversight with a recent state audit.  If the city wants to continue with the waiver it must write it into the code and decide on an acceptable surface water related curriculum as a trade off.

Councilmember Roberts asked. “Who is more deserving of this money, the school district or citizens dealing with flooding?” Sanchez said that now the $180,000 is not critical to their plans but in five years the money may needed for infrastructure replacement.

Several council members pointed out that people move to Shoreline because of the quality of  the schools. Councilmember Salomon said he was comfortable extending waiver indefinitely. Councilmember Eggen said he realized the schools are in a crisis and  “I would not support the imposition of fees in the near future.” Mayor McGlashan said that he thought the school district should “pay their fair share eventually. After three years fees could go down to fifty percent for two years.”

The discussion will continue on the July 9th city council meeting. 

City Council meetings are open to the public, broadcast live on the internet, and available for viewing via computer. All documents are available for download.