Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The Association of Washington Cities has recently sent a letter to cities and towns with populations less than 15,000 across the state asking for signatures in support of keeping the state's Public Works Assistance Account (PWAA). The association has collected the signatures of 64 mayors, including Colfax Mayor Todd Vanek, Rosalia Mayor Nanette Konishi, Endicott Mayor David Bilow and Garfield Mayor Ray McCown.
The PWAA was established in 1985 and allows for financing of local government infrastructure. The Public Works Board authorizes lending to local governments, based on the amount of cash received during a biennium. Speaking with the Gazette, Mayor Konishi spoke in favor of the fund.
“We would like them to recreate the fund so people can use it again,” she said. “Rosalia has used it for just about every project, and it's a low interest loan you can afford to do. And no one has ever defaulted on this one.”
The fund is not in Governor Jay Inslee's proposed budget which is before representatives now.
“It's up to the representatives to decide if they go along with the governor's budget or propose something different,” said Konishi.
Konishi noted the fund does not have money at this time, but there is more than $1 billion set to come to it through payback. The governor's budget proposes putting those dollars into the current expense fund.
“This is where they would just eliminate the fund,” said Konishi.
The Association of Washington Cities' letter calls for representatives to recognize the challenges small communities are facing.
“We appreciate the challenges you have faced to balance the budget with numerous competing priorities during the past several years, and we recognize that this year is no different,” the letter addressed to senators and representatives read. “One casualty of recent budgets has been funding for the Public Works Assistance Account (PWAA). Without an adequately funded PWAA, small cities and towns suffer because conventional financing is cost prohibitive for most of our communities.”
Mayor Konishi added her own letter to the associations. She specifically addressed Ninth District Representatives Mary Dye and Joe Schmick and Senator Mark Schoesler. She noted that cuts at the state level hit small communities harder than larger ones.
“Every decision you make, that negatively effects cities across the state, is magnified dramatically in small towns like Rosalia,” she wrote. “There are 75 towns in the state of Washington with population of 15,000 or less. Every dollar you withhold from cities like Seattle and Spokane is magnified 100 times in communities like Rosalia.”
Mayor Konishi titled her letter to the representatives “give us the tools” and said the right tools would give local governments a better ability to be able to serve their communities.
More information about the proposed cut of the PWAA and other items before representatives can be found at the Association of Washington Cities' website.
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