Looking back over the past year and forward to the new year, several issues of interest to South Kitsap residents seem likely to carry over into the next year for decision.
First and perhaps easiest to resolve is the question of what to do with the Port Orchard boat launching ramp, now that heavy use by a company located in Bremerton makes renovation necessary.
The company — located in the Port of Bremerton industrial area — is a major private employer in South Kitsap, so jurisdictional boundaries probably ought to be less important than getting the job done.
Since the Port of Bremerton is both the landlord for the company and the government entity responsible for harbor improvements that facilitate commerce and industry, the port district would ordinarily be the obvious choice to accomplish the renovation.
But since the city of Port Orchard owns the launching ramp, having built it long ago as a recreational facility, the obvious choice isn’t necessarily the easy one.
If port district revenue is to be used to pay for a new ramp, the problem is not that one jurisdiction’s residents would be taxed to benefit another. Port district taxpayers include almost everyone in Bremerton and South Kitsap including Port Orchard.
From the residents’ viewpoint, the economic benefit to this area matches pretty closely with the source of the port district’s local tax revenue.
The catch is that the city owns the land and the ramp, so some arrangement has to accommodate the fact that the port district rather than the city would pay.
Whether it is a lease to the port district or some other interlocal agreement for joint operation and construction of a suitable boat ramp, the problem needs to be solved and soon.
Second and perhaps harder to resolve is the question whether to form a regional fire protection service authority to serve both the city of Bremerton and the residents living within the South Kitsap Fire and Rescue district.
The plan for the financing and operation of a RFPSA will probably be available for public examination and comment in the next few months before it is considered for placement on the ballot by the city council and fire district commissioners.
Voters in South Kitsap and Bremerton would make the final decision whether to approve the financing and service plan and thereby approve formation of a RFPSA.
Probably the most worrisome aspect of the RFPSA concept is the financing part of the plan, since the plan needs to ensure that SKFR taxpayers don’t end up paying for Bremerton’s fire protection and emergency medical services.
If the RFPSA levies property taxes as its principal source of revenue, the same tax rate would apply to everyone, so the lower tax base in Bremerton could cause South Kitsap residents to pay part of Bremerton’s costs.
Maybe Bremerton’s tax base will rise some day and eliminate this problem, but there is not yet any indication that it will.
For taxes due in 2011 the city’s tax base declined more than SKFR’s tax base, so the gap widened.
Forming a RFPSA may be a more efficient way of delivering services to the city and South Kitsap; but if the mismatch between annual costs and tax bases remains despite reducing costs through efficiency gains, the financing plan has to prevent shifting Bremerton’s costs to South Kitsap.
Last and probably hardest to resolve is the question whether the Kitsap Regional Library should be given a property tax increase by the voters.
Port Orchard’s need for a new library building probably won’t be answered in the coming year, since the county’s voters showed little interest in a tax increase that would have funded part of its cost.
But the board of trustees for KRL still needs to decide whether to request a smaller tax increase to match tax revenues to spending for library operations.
The trustees misjudged the level of support for the larger tax increase rejected by voters in November, so let’s hope they get better at proposing what can be approved at a time when voters are willing and able to approve it.
Bob Meadows is a Port Orchard resident.
