Thurston County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) met yesterday to extend an Interlocal Agreement for the Public Facilities District for Regional Centers with the cities of Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater.
This agreement will extend the district for an additional 15 years, initially set up for a 25-year term, the extent possible under state law until a revision from RCW 82.14.390 passed that allows for an additional 15 years.
The funds collected from the Public Facilities District will be used to maintain and expand two existing facilities -- the Hand On Children's Museum (HOCM) and the Regional Athletic Center (RAC). It can only be used for this purpose, and this is not an additional tax in Thurston County but rather an offset of the amount that is remitted to the state.
“I don't know if you've received the information about the children's museum and our need for expansion,” said HOCM Chief Executive Officer Patty Belmonte. “There are 460 children's museums in the nation; we have more visitors per square foot of space in this building than any of those 460 museums -- which is a nice way of saying that we're overcrowded.”
75% of HOCM’s operating money comes from earned sources or revenue, but for the expansion side, Belmonte emphasized that they must pursue all possibilities for funding. Belmonte noted that HOCM also has the benefit of having its adjacent land still available for future development.
Belmonte thanked the board for the funding, saying the museum takes a quarter of the budget for the district while the RAC takes 75 percent of it.
Commissioner Gary Edwards emphasized that this funding will not be carried as an additional tax to the public; rather, it is funding that the county will lose if they do not utilize it to support the two facilities.
Assistant County Manager Robin Campbell added that this funding is “essentially free money to the county” as it offsets the state sales tax.
The law governs this opportunity made to cater to counties that did not have Public Facility Districts, which means that Thurston already established this district will not be eligible again for this offset.
However, it does not mean that Thurston will not be able to form other types of districts -- such as the planned Brewery District of the City Tumwater -- but if the county indeed forms another one, any amount that it collects under that district would not be an offset against the state sales tax but would now be an additional tax.
The three commissioners approved the modification to the second amendment to the amended interlocal agreement regarding creating a Public Facilities District for Regional Centers.
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jimlazar
There is a different alternative that the County and Cities should consider: using an extension to fund new public facilities. In particular, the expansion of the County trail network would be an excellent application of these funds. People come from all over the west to use our trail network. They stay in hotels, eat at restaurants, shop, and add to the diversity of users.
I always enjoy meeting visitors from other communities when I cycle on the Chehalis-Western Trail, the Woodland Trail, and the Yelm-Tenino trail. Yelm is trying to extent the trail into Pierce County, and Tenino is working to extent the trail down to Lewis County.
It's time for a community conversation about how this opportunity should be used.
Saturday, November 25, 2023 Report this
BobJacobs
I was unaware of plans to extend out trail network to Pierce and Lewis Counties. A great idea. I agree with Jim.
Bob Jacobs
Sunday, November 26, 2023 Report this