Rosalia sends priority list to state legislators

With the 2017 Washington state legislative session underway, at least one Whitman County community is communicating its priorities to the state body.

The Town of Rosalia last week released a resolution passed at a town council session with priorities for the legislature to consider during its session.

“As an organization and as a city we’ve gotten more organized and serious about paying attention to the legislature,” Mayor Nanette Konishi said. “So much of our funding has been cut, and we haven’t paid that much in close attention before.”

Konishi said the Association of Washington Cities (AWC) has asked communities to communicate with them in regard to legislative priorities so that it can best serve cities and towns across the state.

“They’ve been asking us to do this because they need to know what they’re taking to the legislature,” she said.

The first item addressed in Rosalia’s resolution is the loss of the public works assistance account. The resolution states the loss of this account “as a self-sustaining low interest loan source for municipalities to repair and replace the crumbling infrastructure was devastating to every city and town in the state.”

Rosalia would like to see this account retained and reformed for efficiency and prioritization on smaller, financially distressed cities.

“Those funding cuts disturb different cities in different ways,” said Konishi.

One of the ways Rosalia has been hit is in the form of grants, she said.

“Historically, we’ve pretty much always gotten grants when we asked,” she explained. “But how are we going to reorganize our budgets so that we have matching funds now? We count on those grants.”

The next item on Rosalia’s list is financial stability and local authority. This item addresses the state’s one percent limit on annual property tax increases and capped utility taxes. Rosalia would like to see this be up to local authority.

The Washington State Association of Counties (WSAC) actually has a proposal before the legislature to do just that and have property tax caps be in line with inflation and population growth, rather than being limited to one percent. Konishi said a change such as this could end up bringing just a little bit more money to the town’s limited budget.

“That would be really useful for us,” she said. “It adds about $600 to our budget. Every little bit counts, but it’s not a lot. And it’s a way to take some of that responsibility off of the state legislature for having to figure out how to get that money back to us.”

Public records was the next issue of concern for Rosalia. Konishi said it is important to be able to provide the public access to information, but the town would also like to see more realistic expectations.

“Public records is a big deal for us, too,” she said. “Right now, it doesn’t give us a lot of time to respond.”

The resolution states, “Open and transparent government is right and good and almost always used for legitimate purposes, but when a few determine to abuse the privilege, everyone pays, particularly in small towns where a few employees must do the jobs many people handle in larger municipalities. Update Public Records Act to include realistic fees for request and discourage nuisance requests.”

Last, Rosalia wants to see improved city, county and state partnerships. In regard to this priority, Konishi said a lot of cuts have been made by the legislature, mostly as a response to the McCleary decision.

“What hit us the hardest first was when the McCleary decision first took place and started hitting,” she said.

The resolution explains this priority.

“We understand the difficult decisions you must make regarding cuts and fulfilling court required mandates,” it states. “We do not accept that pulling essential funding sources away from cities is the ‘best practices’ way to cover state obligations.

“Financially healthy cities will be good partners for the state. We can’t provide the sales tax revenue the state needs if we can’t first provide the infrastructure for economic development. Strong cities start underground and grow up and out, not the reverse. Support partnerships that allow cities to work with other agencies for more efficient and cost effective programs and projects.”

Konishi said she feels the resolution gives representatives a good place to start.

“If nothing else, it’s just something to think about,” she said.

Konishi said she was planning to meet with Rep. Joe Schmick, R-Colfax, this week, and she also planned to be in Olympia Wednesday.

“I’ll be hearing from some of the legislators and hearing some of the concerns,” she said.

She emphasized that she thinks it is important to work together to be able to meet needs.

“We are interconnected and need to be,” she said. “The more we work together, the better off we’ll all be.”

In addition to having the town council communicate its priorities, Konishi expressed that she hopes citizens of all communities will be active in government.

“I would encourage citizens to make contact with representatives to let them know what their concerns are,” she said. “More attention is paid that way, and if they don’t hear from the constituents, then they don’t know.”