We hope Pierce County Council approves the formation of a county-wide flood control district when it meets to vote on the topic next week. Something needs to be done to address flooding of the Puyallup River and other rivers in the county. The stretch of the Puyallup that runs through Fife is of particular concern. There have been floods there in recent years. A major flood could have a devastating impact on the economy of Pierce County, given the facts that Interstate 5 runs through the flood plain, it is home to a number of warehouses that distribute a wide array of products and the proximity of shipping terminals on the Tideflats. A flood that shuts down the freeway and the many roads that must be used by delivery trucks and commuters could cost our area millions of dollars a day. The economic impact of a recent flood in Lewis County, for example, showed a loss in excess of $10 million per day.
Once created, the district will have the authority to levy up to 50 cents per $1,000 in assessed property values. The council has set the rate at 10 cents, or $20 a year for a $200,000 house. It will ask the supervisors of the board that will oversee the district’s operations to stay at this rate, although state law does not mandate that it actually follow that recommendation. At the proposed rate, the tax would generate $8 million a year to leverage state and federal grants to pay for projects that will control and prevent flooding. Much of this will go to improve levees along the Puyallup River.
Creation of the district has generated some controversy. Elected officials in a number of cities that sit at higher elevations have questioned why their residents should pay additional property taxes for projects that will primarily benefit lower-elevation areas such as Fife.
The council has addressed this with an amendment that will allow cities and towns to apply for “opportunity dollars” from the district, which would total 10 percent of the revenue collected within a municipality. This would go to that particular city to pay for projects within their city limits.
This should appease city officials and property owners in Milton, University Place, Gig Harbor, Steilacoom, DuPont and other cities that do not experience flooding.
There are still some unanswered questions. One is whether the $8 million per year that will be raised at the 10-cent rate will be enough to pay for the needed improvements, or if the rate will need to be increased in the future.
For now, the lower rate is a good way to get the district established. We suspect the rate will need to go up in the future. The council would be wise to address this sooner rather than later, to maintain a level of good understanding with city governments across Pierce County.
County government has shown a patter of spending its money on other things, then utilize emergency bonds to pay for urgent matters that really could have been planned for well in advance. Examples are the tax increase approved by voters last fall to create South Sound 911 and the bond measure offered years ago to pay for an expansion of the county jail. Hopefully this pattern will end and Pierce County’s leadership will think more long term when it comes to funding massive projects. But for now, we have to face the reality that flooding is a county-wide issue and seek solutions. The district is a big step in funding those solutions.
