The King County parks levy was the main topic at the Greater Maple Valley Unincorporated Area Council meeting June 3.
The upcoming King County Parks levy was presented by Katy Terry, King County Parks assistant division director. Terry described the ballot issue as a six-year property tax levy lid lift to raise revenue for the maintenance and operations of King County’s parks, trails, and open space. Levy funds would also be used to expand the regional trails system.
The Levy replaces the 2007 Operations and Maintenance Levy and Open Space and Trails Levy, both of which expire this year. Specific goals are to take care of existing parks and trails, grow and connect regional open space, improve regional trails, and make parks more accessible.
The property tax levy lid lift is 18.77 cents per $1,000 of assessed value – an estimated $56 per year for the owner of a home valued at $300,000. The levy proposal is consistent with county’s practice to end the use of General Fund monies on regional parks, trails and open space, and on local facilities in the rural unincorporated areas.
For more information on the Parks Levy visit www.kingcounty.gov/recreation/parks/about/levy.aspx.
Following the Area Council’s recent Citizens’ Survey Tahoma High School students volunteered to catalogue and evaluate the results. Joseph Meyers, Matt Milburn, and Hannah Wheeler, students in the Advanced Placement Statistics class, presented the findings at the meeting.
There was an overall 12 percent voter response rate to the survey. This is considered good for a mail-in ballot. The students presented each survey question and citizen response, while describing noticeable trends in the data. Discussion included ways to improve the survey to garner even more citizen feedback in the future.
The Election and Survey Committee will be meeting further with the students to compile all results and trends, details of which will be published in a future article.
Area Council meetings are held the first Monday of each month. The next meeting will be held from 7-9 p.m. on July 1. For more information on the council visit www.greatermaplevalleyareacouncil.org.
