At the top of Oak Harbor City Council’s list of priorities for state lawmakers this year is money for the new sewage treatment plant.
Council members and city administration created a list of 18 things they would like the 10th District legislators — Sen. Barbara Bailey, Rep. Norma Smith and Rep. Dave Hayes — to focus on in Olympia this year.
The council members previously asked the administration to add an item about the marina’s tideland lease fee and another advocating for the Oak Harbor School District, specifically in helping the district prepare for an influx of students related to an increase of sailors at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and to work toward fully funding education.
During a special meeting Tuesday, Councilman Rick Almberg encouraged his fellow city officials to press the lawmakers harder about the priorities.
“I think the squeaky wheel gets the attention,” he said. “Maybe we haven’t been doing as good a job as we could be doing about keeping them informed that we’re watching them and the progress they may or may not be making.”
The item that’s inevitably front and center for city officials is the sewage treatment plant that’s currently under construction downtown. They are asking the lawmakers to “support and promote” state and federal funding sources to assist in paying for the facility, which would ultimately keep rates lower for everyone who pays sewer fees.
The current estimates for constructing the state-of-the-art facility range from $91 million to $113 million. The council’s recent decision to add a $5-million community room to the project may push that number higher, depending on how it is funded.
The city already has $7.5 million in grants and $27 million in low-interest loans. The city applied for another $20 million in loans, according to City Administrator Doug Merman.
In addition, he said the city is holding $10 million in cash to be applied and will be issuing $45 million in revenue bonds over the next three to four months.
Other priorities include the following:
Advocate for a measure to allow the city’s marina to rent tidelands for free, as port district-owned marinas are able to do.
Retain Capron transportation funding, which provides a gas-tax refund to counties made up of islands.
Advocate for the Public Works Trust Fund, which helps provides money for infrastructure.
Support increased funding for the Main Street program to revitalizing downtown business districts.
Promote the city’s application for funding to help with the costs of moving the city’s water infrastructure due to the realignment of segments of Highway 20.
Support state grants to communities for updating comprehensive plans.
Advocate to limit local government’s financial burden from unreasonable public records requests.
Continue to support funding assistance for communities subject to stringent stormwater regulations.
Refrain from supporting proposals requiring municipal judges to be elected.
Address the state budget crisis without eliminating funding sources for local governments.
Support flexibility at the point of collecting impact fees.
Support amending frequencies of audits for cities with a record of clean audits.
Remove the diversion of liquor taxes and reinstate the historic revenue sharing with local governments.
Advocate for the increased sharing of marijuana tax with cities.
Support continued planning for the preservation of Deception Pass Bridge.
Do not support unfunded mandates to local government.
