SEQUIM — Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center commissioners will discuss either re-running a levy proposal, such as the one that failed Feb. 10, or asking voters to approve creating a metropolitan park district when they meet at 5 p.m. today.
What they won’t talk about at the special meeting, which is open to the public, in the gymnasium at the facility at 610 N. Fifth St., is closing, said Frank Pickering, board president.
Officials with Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center, known as SARC, had said that if a proposed property tax levy did not pass, the facility would have to close Dec. 31, 2016.
“When we cannot produce a balanced budget, we must close,” Pickering said.
SARC has been operating primarily off reserves, and officials figure those will run out by the end of 2016.
But discussions since the measure failed to reach the necessary 60 percent supermajority for passage in the Feb. 10 special election have not been about closure, Pickering said.
“That is the furthest thing from anybody’s mind,” he said.
“We will somehow find a way to keep SARC running.”
Instead, talk has focused on how to gain more revenue, he added.
Board members may make a decision today, Pickering said.
A six-year property tax levy proposal for the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center received 57.5 percent support — 7,258 votes — but needed 60 percent to pass. Opposed were 5,368, or 42.5 percent.
“We made a majority,” said Pickering as he thanked voters for their support.
“The law requires a supermajority.”
The proposed property tax levy was for an estimated 12 cents per $1,000 assessed property value.
As a junior taxing district, SARC — which is Clallam County Parks and Recreation District No. 1 — can go before the voters every six years with a proposed levy, which needs 60 percent approval for passage.
The Feb. 10 proposal was the first public funding sought by the district since 2003.
The recreational facility — which includes pools, saunas and workout equipment along with basketball and racquetball courts — was built with public money in 1988 and run for the first 13 years with funds as a junior taxing district.
Since then, the facility has relied on reserves, which will fall below $350,000 in 2016, supporters said.
Tops on the list are to put the levy on another election ballot — either as it was run Feb. 10 or with changes — or to ask voters to approve a metropolitan park district.
Two board members have investigated the option of re-running the levy proposal and will give a report today, Pickering said.
If SARC became a metropolitan park district, it could have taxing authority without going to the voters.
Voter approval of a metropolitan park district needs only a simple majority for passage.
The William Shore Memorial Pool in Port Angeles became a metropolitan park district in 2009.
Its Board of Commissioners is comprised of two Clallam County commissioners, two Port Angeles City Council members and one member elected by the board.
Also, Pickering said, “People have contacted us with ideas and thoughts, and those will be examined” at today’s meeting.
Pickering said that although officials were disappointed that the levy failed to receive 60 percent voter support, they were heartened by the amount of support it did receive.
“It exceeded what many thought it could do,” Pickering said.
The six precincts that form the city of Sequim approved the proposal by 62 percent, and SunLand backed it by 66 percent, Pickering said.
“There are a number of areas that really believe in the mission that SARC has to provide exercise and recreation and rehabilitation opportunities,” Pickering said.
SARC has a partnership agreement with Olympic Medical Center in which people in the Sequim area can receive post-cardiopulmonary recovery services, and discussions are in the works for more rehab programs, he said.
“The need is out there and the desire is out there and we’re going to make it happen,” Pickering said.
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
