Seeking Silverdale and Central Kitsap

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Well it has been a few months since there were incorporation meetings held regarding the possibility of Silverdale becoming a city.

I am a bit surprised that no one has taken the bait and continued the talks. Maybe the history of failed incorporation attempts has soured people on the idea of proposing incorporation again. I hope that’s not the case because based on criticism and conversations I’ve heard in the community, it seems Silverdale’s incorporation is an inevitable event. (But maybe I’m wrong).

After hearing many questions raised about Silverdale’s future if it became a city, I asked Jennifer Forbes, an attorney at Tacoma law firm McGavick Graves, to answer some of the most commonly asked questions. Forbes lives in Poulsbo and has been on-hand during incorporation meetings to answer questions. She is very familiar with the law surrounding incorporation.

Below are the questions I asked and her overarching answer to all of them.

My Questions:

1. Will water or sewer rates increase/decrease/stay the same?
2. Will the cost of utilities like garbage collection or electrical service change?
3. What will happen with the cost of television, satellite TV and phone service, will it change?
4. Will the cost of fire/police protection change, and if Silverdale became a city would it have to establish its own fire/police departments?
5. Will property taxes costs more/less?
6. Will the sales tax rate change?
7. If a city government is established along with a court system, will that cost more money and what are the pros and cons?
8. How will the road maintenance be handled?

Jennifer’s Response:

Questions 1-8 can generally be answered in the same manner – No one at this stage can guarantee what taxes will or will not be imposed or increased by the City. The City would have the authority to impose or increase certain taxes but they are not required to do so. What this means is that the answer to the questions will depend heavily on who is elected to the governing body (City Council) of the City of Silverdale. Citizens can participate in that decision through their votes and by participating in City Council meetings.

The City can initially contract with the County, other Cities, or Districts for nearly all government services, such as police, fire, road maintenance, and the court system. Once again, this is a decision that would be made by the governing body of the City. The governing body may decide that they do not want to contract for some or all of these services. That being said, however, the typical way most recently incorporated Cities address these issues is by contracting for a period of time for the provision of these services and then slowly taking them over themselves. This provides a somewhat seamless transition of services into an incorporated City.

There are certainly pros and cons to having a City municipal court system versus contracting with the County. This is something that many existing cities struggle with. I cannot speak to the financial costs or benefits, as I think this varies widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. I will say that it appears to me that most jurisdictions choose to have their own court system for a variety of reasons including but not limited to: providing a better level of service to citizens, having a better sense of the issues that are facing the community, and providing a more convenient forum for those who are parties to the court system.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 29th, 2007 at 1:28 pm by brynn grimley and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.