Our Voice: Cooperation, not manipulation needed for new Tri-City projects
The element of surprise can be a useful tool if you are an author of detective novels or a football coach.
But a state legislator?
Not so much.
City leaders in Pasco, Kennewick and Richland were caught off-guard when Rep. Larry Haler submitted a bill that would completely overhaul the Tri-City Regional Public Facilities District Board.
Just a couple days after the start of the 2018 Legislature, Haler presented House Bill 2251 to members of the House Local Government Committee. The negative reaction by Tri-City leaders was swift and fierce.
Lobbyists for the three cities quickly let lawmakers know this was an independent move, with no formal backing from elected Tri-City officials.
The Richland Republican crafted and introduced the legislation as a favor to a former Kennewick mayor, Vic Epperly, who has been pushing for years to get facilities like a performing arts complex and aquatics center built with a regional and comprehensive approach.
Epperly is frustrated that progress has not been made, and that board members of the Tri-City Regional Public Facilities District willingly have taken a backseat so the cities could push their own, separate projects — through their own public facilities districts.
At the legislative hearing, Epperly told lawmakers he decided to propose the new rules after attending a regional facilities district meeting last summer at which the board voted to meet less frequently, pay bills and extend its members’ terms.
“There was absolutely nothing to do with their mission whatsoever,” Epperly said. “I am fed up with this PFD having been in existence since 2010 and having done nothing.”
We understand why Epperly is so upset. A community our size should be able to offer our residents the same amenities found in neighboring cities.
And the regional PFD was created to help make that happen, yet it barely functions.
Public facility districts can help pay for new community facilities with bonds backed by voter-approved sales tax increases — up to two-tenths of a percent, or 2 cents on a $10 purchase.
When the regional PFD board asked voters in 2013 to approve a bond for an aquatics center in Pasco, the measure failed miserably in Kennewick and Richland.
But Pasco citizens supported it. Of course, it was going to be built in their town.
Since then, Pasco has been trying to get an aquatics center on its own with its own facilities district, but the effort needs a tweak in state law before it can move forward.
Meanwhile, Kennewick has asked its residents several times to support a sales tax increase to cover improvements at the Three Rivers Convention Center campus and to build a Broadway-style theater.
Kennewick voters, however, have rejected three ballot measures so far — the latest one in November.
So perhaps Epperly is right. Perhaps it is time to re-think a regional approach to building public facilities in the Tri-Cities.
But any proposal must have community buy-in or it will go nowhere.
The bill Haler introduced on Epperly’s behalf would replace elected leaders on the regional PFD board with appointees, and give them the authority to seek public advisory votes so projects could be prioritized.
Originally, it also allowed the PFD to impose a sales tax increase without voter approval, but that piece reportedly now has been killed.
There is no question the Toyota Center needs an update, primarily for safety reasons so the Tri-City American hockey team can continue to play here. The convention center is losing opportunities because its space is limited, and Tri-City parents shouldn’t have to drive to Moses Lake so their kids can enjoy a water park.
A regional approach might be the best way to get such projects accomplished.
But it should not be forced.
The bill Haler introduced was an attempt at an end-run around the cities, and that’s just not going to work.
This story was originally published January 21, 2018 at 12:03 AM with the headline "Our Voice: Cooperation, not manipulation needed for new Tri-City projects."