PORT TOWNSEND — The agreement between city and county governments for the support of Memorial Field and the Port Townsend Recreation Center is being re-examined and could result in the city’s withdrawal of the promised funds.
“Nothing has changed yet,” said Mayor David King on Monday.
“But the current structure is not sustainable.”
Voters approved Proposition 1 in November 2010, which raised the sales tax in Jefferson County 0.03 percent, with the additional funds used to finance public safety, youth and senior services.
Under the law, the city was to receive 40 percent of the new revenue. It committed half of that amount — estimated at $212,000 — for support of the recreation center and Memorial Field, both of which are in Port Townsend.
After providing the funding for a year, the city determined that to continue to do so through 2015 under the original agreement would cause financial stress and force cutting other essential programs.
One of the terms of the agreement, which was not made clear to voters, was that its continuance is based on a report from the Exploratory Regional Parks and Recreation Committee, which was published June 19.
The parks plan will be addressed by both the City Council and Board of County Commissioners in the next few months.
According to the agreement, if the plan is not approved by both parties, the city’s obligation terminates and will no longer be required unless agreed upon by both parties.
The report recommends the creation of a municipal parks and recreation district that would combine city and county resources and have its own taxing authority.
Echoing King, County Administrator Philip Morley said nothing has been decided yet and the matter needs to be discussed.
But Morley has instructed Parks and Recreation Director Matt Tyler to prepare two budgets for 2013 — one including the projected $212,000 from the city and another if the money does not materialize.
“The difficulty in sustaining parks and recreation funding levels continues to be a challenge,” Morley said at a commissioners’ meeting Monday.
“Although we have an agreement, the city has indicated that it may be hard-pressed to come up with the funds.”
City Manager David Timmons said the city is spending “twice as much money” as the county on the two facilities in question, and believes the county should be using some of the unexpected funds it has received for facilities maintenance.
“Over the past year we’ve had to lay off our parks director and almost close the pool,” he said
“We’d like to see an accounting from the county about how that money’s being used.”
According to the agreement, the city has access to that data.
The agreement reads “the intent for city sales tax distribution is to provide temporary support for these programs while long term solutions for the facilities are sought.”
It also allows for mutual tracking of expenses by the city and county, and a provision to renegotiate or revise the agreement.
The city has not said that it will not provide the funds, only that such reexamination is necessary.
The collection of the new taxes began July 1, 2011, and the city transferred $111,514 during that year.
It has stated that it will transfer $212,000 in 2012.
According to King the matter is now coming to a head due to a June 19 report by the Exploratory Regional Parks and Recreation Committee, King said that a public discussion is necessary to decide what the city should do, and hopes to schedule a town meeting in September for that purpose.
“We don’t know what we’ll need to do,” King said.
“We don’t have the funds to continue supporting the pool and the rec center, so we’ll need to look at those funding sources.
“We may be told that we legally have to support the rec center which means we will have to close the pool since we are not legally bound to keep it open.
“This would mean that a new group of people would be mad at us, or maybe the same group would be mad at us for different reasons.”
Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
