FERNDALE - City council members on Monday, Dec. 19, are expected to revisit their decision to wait until November to ask voters for a 0.2 percent sales tax increase to pay for road maintenance.
At committee meetings Wednesday, Dec. 14, nine days after their original vote, some council members appeared willing to hold the election on Feb. 14 after all. That's the same day as Ferndale School District's levy request for almost $60 million over four years.
The day after discussions in committee suggested the city was leaning toward the February ballot, school district officials didn't have a prepared response. Superintendent Linda Quinn said she wasn't aware the council was reconsidering its vote. She referred questions to Mark Deebach, the district's executive director of business and support services.
"It's tough to put competing measures on the ballot," Deebach said. "Ours is a replacement levy, so it's not a new tax, versus (the city's) issue. ... It's unfortunate we may be running our ballot measures at the same time, but we don't have a say about it."
School officials are motivated to see Ferndale roads repaired sooner rather than later. They are especially concerned about Thornton Road, which city officials have said could require weight restrictions in the next two or three years.
Three schools are on Thornton, and buses make 110 trips to those schools every day, Ray Nicholson, the district's transportation director, said in a Dec. 13 letter to the city. Depending on where weight restrictions were imposed, the buses might need to take a longer route.
The delay could cost the district $1,850 a week, Nicholson said in the letter, adding "this is money that our school district cannot afford to lose."
The Whatcom County Elections Department must receive notice of Ferndale's intent to be on the February ballot by Dec. 30, so the Dec. 19 meeting is the council's last chance to make the switch. For that to happen, one of the five council members who voted against the February election would need to make a motion to reconsider.
The council voted for November in part because a February election would cost the city $25,000, compared to $5,000 to be on the November ballot.
Council members learned Dec. 14 that Ferndale had received over the prior week what amounted to unanticipated revenue totaling $77,000 - more than enough to cover the higher election cost.
The money came from higher-than-expected property and sales tax receipts and an unanticipated $22,000 payment from Ferndale School District for a school resource police officer.
City staff pressed for the February ballot during the committee meetings, emphasizing the urgent need for repairs on some city roads, including Thornton Road and Portal Way. Work would likely begin in 2013 if the tax were approved in February, but couldn't start until 2014 if the vote took place in November, city officials said.
The tax increase would raise about $300,000 a year for roadwork, officials said.
