Dayton City Council take levy annual increase

DAYTON- Mayor Weatherford called the Dayton City Council to order at 6:00 p.m., November 7, 2023. Mayor Zac Weatherford and Council Members Teeny McMunn, James Su’euga, Michael Smith, Kyle Anderson, Dain Nysoe, and Shannon McMillen were at city hall. Laura Aukerman participated using Zoom.

Washington State Representative Joe Schmick attended the meeting and spoke during the first public comment period. Schmick said Dayton should have a policy to charge fees for public record requests, in part to cover staff time. He advised the city to amend its Comprehensive Plan to allow a public hearing on housing a drug rehabilitation center in Dayton. He said this should be done in case the State considers placing one here.

Next, Claudia Nysoe, on behalf of the Friends of the Dayton Dog Park, sought assistance from the city to build a concrete pad and gazebo in the park.

Nysoe spoke in favor of allowing golf carts on the city streets if they meet the same requirements as ATVs.

Another community member had questions after receiving a letter from the city saying portable basketball hoops must be moved from the streets. The letter said the hoops could interfere with emergency vehicles and snowplows. The city may consider putting a hoop in the parking lot behind Dingles.

Weatherford opened a brief public hearing regarding vacating a portion of North 2nd Street right-of-way. The area to be vacated is north of East Dayton Ave and measures 60’ X 120’. The parcel is of no use to the city. Once vacated, the parcel could be sold to adjacent property owners. After the hearing closed, the council approved vacating the lot.

Ryan Paulson, the Public Works Director, addressed the council on a proposal to treat most of Dayton’s city streets with an Otta seal. The asphalt resurfacing treatment is named after Norway’s Otta Valley where it was developed. It is akin to chip sealing but makes a more robust, more durable surface.

Most of the project would be funded by the Washington Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) as a pilot project. Dayton is one of ten cities in Washington chosen to participate. Dayton would put the project out for bid; however, the project depends on final approval by the TIB directors. If the project receives final approval, about eighty percent of the city’s streets would be Otta sealed next year, at an estimated cost of 1.5 million dollars. Dayton would be obligated to pay five percent of the total cost, or about $75,000. The council approved spending $1,250 to begin planning the project with Anderson Perry; the rest of the planning cost will be funded by TIB.

The mayor opened a second public hearing, to review a one percent tax levy increase.

Su’euga said, “for so long, the city has tried to do things as inexpensively as possible, and in some cases, literally kick the can down the road. So now we’re paying the price. We’re seeing the consequence of that in all the infrastructure problems we’ve got.” He said, “We need to take care of the things we’ve got. We need to make the improvements we need, because this community needs to thrive. If it doesn’t have streets and sewer, there is no city, and there is no place to come and get the things they need. They’re going to have to go to Walla Walla, they’re going to have to go to Clarkston, they’re going to have to go to the Tri-Cities. Not that we have everything, but this is our community. This is our place, and we have a responsibility to take care of it.” He said, “We’ve got to get everybody in the boat rowing the same direction.”

Aukerman said she didn’t believe always raising property taxes was the way to go. Aukerman said the city needed to find other ways to raise revenue, and she was definitely a “no” vote on the property tax increase.

Su’euga said by taking the one percent increase and total banked capacity, the tax increase for a property owner with an assessed property value of $250,000 would be about $17 per year. Aukerman countered, “To me, it’s an easy way. To me, an easy way is raising property taxes. I mean, yeah, if that’s $17 for one percent, what’s the county going to raise this year? Who else is going to be pulling from our property taxes and raising our property taxes? And if you add all that up, it’s easy to raise the property tax. ‘OK, I’m going to raise your property tax; it’s easy, here I got this extra money.’ How about we think of other ways to bring in revenue instead of raising property taxes?”

The mayor closed the public hearing and returned to the regular Council meeting.

McMunn moved to authorize Resolution 1525, taking the one percent increase and $20,000 of the banked capacity. The motion carried 6-1, with Aukerman being the sole dissenting vote.

Council next considered authorizing resolution 1524 amending the master fee schedule utility rate, which includes eight and a half percent increase in utility rates and a three percent increase in utility tax. Aukerman proposed lowering the threshold for charging a higher, excessive water rate. She emphasized that Dayton’s fees are much lower than they are in other communities in the area.

McMunn moved the resolution to be adopted without lowering the excessive use threshold, arguing that it was six of one, one-half dozen of another. Anderson seconded the motion. McMunn’s motion was carried by Council with a vote of 4-3, with dissenting votes cast by Aukerman, Su’euga, and McMillen.

Some discussion of the preliminary 2024 budget followed. The preliminary budget should be posted on the City of Dayton’s website.

In his report, the mayor gave a progress report on the wastewater treatment project and announced that BDI would have free leaf pickup on November 27, December 4, and December 11.

The next regular council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 21, 2023, at 6 p.m.