G.R.I.T.
Home

Sept. 29, 2006 Email from Brad Fjelstad, President of Skyridge Estates LLC, developer of 200 homes on 60 acres on 124th St. SE, to fellow developers, asking that they each contribute $10,000. (Full exchange of emails as Gibson rcvd. it from the City in response to his PDA request.)

G.R.I.T.'s AUDIO webpage

MAYOR TOLSON's SPIN ON THE $30,000 "Bribe"

The Monroe Monitor & Valley Review's Steve Higgins sounds off.

$30,000 FROM SULTAN DEVELOPERS: Was it a.....

"No-strings-attached" GIFT from generous "property owners"?
OR:
Payback for City Services & Political Influence rendered?

During May 24, 2007's Sultan Council Meeting, in response to a citizen's question, both Mayor Tolson and City Planner Rick Cisar implied that city involvement with property-owner-initiated requests to the County asking to have their land added to Sultan's UGA (Urban Growth Area), are rare.

Ever since October 12, 2006, when the City's then-Interim Finance Director Gordon Hey unwittingly disclosed a $30,000 donation/contribution from developers, a City-Taxpayer debate officials and taxpayers has raged on.

The information on this page puts PAID to any lingering doubts or questions as to whether this $30,000 was a generous donation by property owners, or influence-peddling by developers, with the city as an aggressively willing accomplice. It also makes a mockery of Tolson's and Cisar's May 24, 2007 comments: The acts in the dual role of lobbyist for developers, and executor for those special interests.

THUMBNAIL SUMMARY

Beginning in Feb., 2006 and throughout most of 2006, Mayor Tolson and the city's planner, city staff/officials and the City's taxpayer-paid consultants, acted in concert with their partners, the current property owners and future developers of 60 acres of land north of 124th St. SE, for the sole purpose of convincing the County that the City had the ability to financially support the infrastructure required for this UGA expansion. Correspondence we received from Snohomish County tells the story.

THE "QUEST"/PRIZE (What's at stake)

At stake was final approval by the Snohomish County Council, granting Sultan's and the property owners' request to enlarge Sultan's UGA, to satisfy speculator-developers' plans to construct 200 homes at 124th's western dead-end area. Payoff for the City was the short-term funding flowing into the city's coffers from the new residential development fees and permits which would keep the City financially afloat a bit longer while it hoped for future commercial/business "Savior(s)" which could help give lifeblood to deeply-depleted budgets. One rather intrusive fly in this financial first-aid ointment, however, is the geographic location of the 60 acres: With the exception of a city water line, the property is non-contiguous with the functional City limits -- the closest city service/infrastructure is located almost a mile distant, at 132nd & Sultan Basin Road.

THE PROCESS (for details, read correspondence with the County and transcriptions (and audio) from council meetings

A "Sales job" by the City, et al., to the Snohomish County Planning Department to assure them that Sultan was in a "financially viable" position to provide future infrastructure (primarily improvements to Sultan's sewer system), which was necessary to support the expansion. If they could convince the PDS, the PDS would pass along a positive recommendation to the County Council, gaining its concurrence and approval for the UGA enlargement.

Key to the City's desperate drive to obtain County Council approval was Mayor Tolson's backdoor deal with Stanton NW to develop the city's southwest corner (Rice Rd. & U. S. 2 intersection). Stanton had sealed Tolson's lips with the condition that its "Sultan Market" proposal would only fly if approval for the UGA expansion was approved.

NOTE: Astoundingly, in addition to the public, none of the Sultan Council members knew anything about the hush-hush Stanton NW Project or the under-the-table $30,000 developer donation.

THE GIFT/DONATION/PAYOFF

$30,000 to the City from generous and grateful developers (apparently with no strings attached) in order to help finance city consultant Reid Shockey's contract to bring Sultan's 2004 Comprehensive Plan into compliance with the Growth Mgt. Act, as mandated by the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board (CPSGMHB), and future short-term revenue from 200 new home housing permits.

Note: Sultan's Comp Plan was non-compliant because of significantly flawed recommendations made to the City Council by City Planner Rick Cisar, upon which its decision to approve was based. Subsequent successful appeals to the CPSGMHB by Josie Fallgatter have resulted in Board decisions favorable to positions she (and then-Planning Commissioners Ron Kraut and Jeff Kirkman) had taken during the 2004 Comprehensive Plan process, all of which City Planner Cisar chose to ignore. As of May, 2007, the City faces financial sanctions from the Governor from their continued non-compliance. MP3 Audio (5/24/07 council re SEIS): Cisar statements and City Attorney Thom Graafstra's clarification of Cisar statement and response to a K. Blair question re Comp Plan compliance issues.)

THE BOTTOM LINE

The Winners....

The 124th St. developers-slash-"property owners." Also the city: They will "win" a temporary (but short-lived) reprieve to the budget through the infusion of short-term funds against its increasing long-term debt.

The Losers....

All existing and future taxpayers, and purchasers of the 200 new homes, all of whom must shoulder the financial burden from new and increased infrastructure fees (water, sewer, roads, police, schools, maintenance) to support this new growth. The 200 new homeowners will be stuck paying the ever-escalating sewer and water capital facility (new) connection fees, as well as impact fees for parks and roadways and increased taxes to support other infrastructure demands for police, general city maintenance, etc.

NOTE: Developers constantly whine over any increase in fees, but a little-known fact to most taxpayers is that the developers pass through these impact and connections fees onto the new home buyers.

SUPPORTING FILES/DOCUMENTATION:

CORRESPONDENCE:

Snohomish County Correspondence with City re Developers' 60-acre UGA request (early 2006-....)

View individual files (Listed chronologically, from earliest to most-recent):

 

DEEP BACKGROUND:

Once Tolson realized how deep was the city's financial hole, his top goals were (1) to keep the city afloat during his watch using short-term fees from residential development; and (2) to create a city-developer "partnership" to help fund infrastructure. When he took office, the City was financially bleeding from heavy red bottom line caused by paying long-term debt with short-term money. Its long tradition of pandering to special interests (i.e.,ecouraging and approving developments, using "bargain basement"-priced building and permit fees, impact fees and water and sewer connection hooks-ups, all of which are passed through to the new homeowner), had finally taken its toll. Significant contributions to the steady decline in City revenue was the WILLOW RUN fraudulant plat and the LID 97-1 DISASTER, which necessitated dipping into the city's financial reserves through interfund loans (i.e., loans the city makes to itself from its reserves, essentially like canabalizing oneself to stay alive a little longer): See Sultan's 2004 Audit report on G.R.I.T.'s Main Audit webpage, specifically, Findings (year-ending Dec. 31, 2004).

In the corporate and private business world, a business will fail unless revenue/income exceeds expenses. This is a world in which no taxpayer "OW!" ("Open Wallet") Policy exists, through which funds can be milked (from taxes, grants or taxpayer-supported low-interest loans), and where sound financial management must be achieved using five-, ten- and twenty-year strategic plans in conjunction with annually-adjusted budgets and Plan revisions to fit marketplace demands. In Sultan, however, the definition of "Financial management" has traditionally meant keeping development fees low enough to ensure that Public Officials' friends and associates holding special developer financial interests are fed at the trough first, and at the lowest price.

For a government entity, the equivalent of a private corporate long-term financial management plan/instrument is called a CFP (Capital Facilities Plan). It contains a comprehensive list of the essential facilities and infrastructure required to adequately service the needs of citizens and businesses with requisite sewer, water, garbage, roads, etc. The financial analysis tool of the sources for how such facilities can be paid for, purchased and maintained over the life of a Comprehensive Plan is called a CIP (Capital Improvement Plan), and it is the heart of any city's GMA Comprehensive Plan.

For example: A city's six-year Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) guides the City's long-term transportation/roadway goals. In Sultan, the traditional planning method used in determining future road projects has been the "Dartboard" approach. That is, Sultan's plan contained a listing and the briefest of descriptions for each road which Sultan might, or might not, decide to improve during the ensuing six-year period. The flaw, of course, is that that no analyses -- transportation-related or financial -- was ever performed. The justification for a road to be placed on this six-year plan was explained best by City Planner Rick Cisar during the 2004 Comprehensive Plan process: As a placeholder (or "hook") by which future grant funds may be collected..

UGA: An Urban Growth Area is an area outside of and bordering city limits which is a next-logical area a city planning under the GMA (Growth Management Act) will, or can, expand into. In the most basic sense, UGA acreage/parcels/area is a sort of "waiting room" of land from which a city will draw when it needs to grow and expand. However, a city also needs to be able to "prove" (supposedly) that it can financially handle the resulting growth by providing new required infrastructure required for growth (i.e., sewer, water, roads, police, parks, etc.) [back]