2024-04-08-minutes-public-works-study-session

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interviewees mentioned concern about wildfire, particularly in the upper county, and the ability of firefighters to access fires via county facilities and residents to evacuate. Several expressed appreciation for the Public Works Department and for clearing roads as quickly as possible during and after snow events. Proposed Levy Participants largely felt one of two ways about the proposed levy: 1) while they did not necessarily want to pay more taxes, they It's wise to take understood the critical need to maintain the county's roads and care of what we bridges and were generally supportive, or 2) were very concerned about have and keep the disproportionate burden of a levy on residents (particularly on larger projects farmers with large properties, people on fixed incomes, and people with separate. low incomes) and wanted to explore other ways to payfor road and bridge maintenance, such as an impact fee or sales tax so visitors would also help pay for their usage. Most felt that a "maintain what the County has" approach over a substantially larger and more costly "new roads and bridges or improvements" approach was the right balance. Several themes surfaced around challenges the county may face with a road levy. Fairness around who will pay. Several interviewees expressed concerns about the disproportionate burden on residents, particularly on large Landowners (since the amount people have to pay for the levy Consider having maybe based on property value) and people on fixed people who are using incomes or who have low incomes. The County is experiencing the roads help pay urban growth, with new people moving in from the western side of for the maintenance. the state, and hosts many visitors, especially during the summer People on fixed months. Some stakeholders feel that visitors, who contribute to the incomes and rural wear and tear on the infrastructure, should also help pay for road and bridge maintenance. They said the County should consider other methods to raise funds, such as an impact fee or sales tax so it is not just an additional cost to residents. Another idea to cover the communities are going to be extremely burdened by this (levy]. cost was to ask for grant support from the state since the area is a popular summer destination in Washington, and congestion from 1-90 spillover adds to more traffic on county roads. r Sharing howthe County got to this point. All participants emphasized that it will be critical for the County to share how they got to this point of needing more funding for road and bridge maintenance. Questions that will likely be important to voters will be around why the funding is needed now, how the previous funds were used, and why the current budget is not adequate to cover maintenance now (i.e., increased labor or material costs, greater growth, etc.). Many stakeholders acknowledged that while they do not want more taxes, they understand that under - maintaining the roads and bridges will lead to worsening conditions and more expensive fixes in the future. Kittitas County Road Levy Research I Stakeholder Interview Draft Summary 3 March 2024