Finn Hill Neighborhood Alliance, Eastside Audubon Society Endorse Parks Levy

Both the Finn Hill Neighborhood Alliance and Eastside Audubon have endorsed King County Prop. 1, a replacement levy both groups say are critical to fund the area's 200 parks and 175 regional trails.

Proposition 1 is a six year property tax levy lid lift of 18.77 cents per $1,000 of assessed value or about $56 per year for a family living in a $300,000 home. It will replace two county parks levies, amounting to 13.4 cents per $1000 of assessed valuation, that expire at the end of 2013. The increase works out to roughly $16 annually for a family living in a $300,000 home.

Finn Hill Neighborhood Alliance board member Mathew Pruitt, who also served on the parks levy task force that recommended the levy to the King County Executive Dow Constantine, said of the levy: “The levy is essential if our county parks on Finn Hill and throughout our region are to remain clean, safe, and open. The lack of general fund support in the county budget puts our parks at severe risk.” 

The FHNA's endorsement letter says that the money raised by the levy will allow King County Parks and Recreation Division to fund maintenance and operations of the parks system, perform infrastructure repair and replacement, acquire and conserve open space, and develop regional trail corridors.  Some of the levy funds will help develop the Eastside Rail Corridor in Kirkland and eight other cities.  The levy also provides enough funding to acquire and protect approximately 450 acres per year of open space land. Approximately $4.2 million dollars per year will be distributed to the county’s 39 cities to support local park and trail systems, and another $4.2 million per year will go to the Woodland Park Zoo to fund conservation and environmental education programs. 

“The Finn Hill Alliance is committed to preserving, protecting, and restoring the extraordinary natural environment of our community,” said board president Scott Morris. “The levy is in line with our values as a community and is a modest investment toward a park system we all benefit from,” he added.  “We need the levy funds to continue restoration work in our Big Finn Hill and Juanita Woodlands Parks. We strongly encourage residents of Finn Hill and Kirkland to vote yes on August 6.”

For more details, visit www.finnhillalliance.org and click on the link to the King County web site page regarding the levy proposal.

Eastside Audubon’s board voted unanimously to endorse the proposed six-year levy, which will replace expiring levies that account for 70 percent of the annual funding that supports 200 parks and 175 regional trails.

“Proposition 1 is important to us as individuals living in King County and also to Eastside Audubon in its mission to protect and enhance natural ecosystems for the benefit of birds, wildlife, and people,” said Peter S. Marshall, chair of the organization’s Conservation Committee.

“We had some serious discussion about the estimated $56 per year tax impact for a hypothetical $300,000 property, realizing these are lean times for many households,” Mr. Marshall said. He noted that the proposed levy is not an incremental tax but instead replaces revenue from existing levies that expire at the end of this year.

The group’s board endorsed Proposition 1 to avert a critical funding shortfall, citing the reasonableness of the projects the levy would fund in 39 cities and towns. “Proposed expenditures from Proposition 1 levy revenue would benefit virtually every King County resident,” Mr. Marshall said.

The organization’s letter of endorsement notes some of the projects that the levy will support. The letter is available at http://bit.ly/1b5LMFN or by visiting Eastside Audubon’s home page at www.eastsideaudubon.org.