City of Newcastle, WA -- Council Meeting of 11/20/12
The Newcastle City Council rejected a 1% property tax increase, given as an option, by a vote of 6 - 1, Councilwoman Carol Simpson dissenting. Before the vote approving a motion for a status quo levy without the 1% increase, Mayor Rich Crispo suggested that small (such as 1%) gradual increases in the levy would be better than a bigger increase somewhere down the road if it came to that, but voted to keep the taxes unchanged nonetheless. In defense of her position, Simpson said -- in so many words -- that the city should not be content to just rely on maintaining basic services, but should aspire to various improvements and projects that would help the city, also emphasizing that infrastucture is more than just streets and roads.
City Manager Rob Wyman announced that Newcastle received a $400,000 grant from the state's Transportation Improvement Program (T.I.P.) Afterwards, the Council discussed how that money should be apportioned to Newcastle's particular transportation needs. Pro-Annexation Councilman Bill Erxelben said that the $680K-or-so already applied to the preliminary budget for roads should be used for streets and roads other than Coal Creek Parkway, and that the $400K from T.I.P. should be used for Coal Creek Parkway. The Council eventually agreed on a transportation motion from Councilman John Dulcich that passed 6- 1 with Simpson dissenting. At this time, N.P.R. is not certain about the specifics of Dulcich's motion or whether it addressed the newly arrived T.I.P. funds, but it appeared to be some modificaion of Erxleben's plan, aforementioned.
Peacock-strutting Erxleben, ordinarily blunt, gruff, articulate, and outspoken, had some testy exchanges with the City Manager and the Mayor in the overall Council Meeting, but his transportation plan seemed to be the most easily understood, transparent and sensible.
Parks Commission Chairwoman Diane Lewis said that the Parks Commission attendance issue has improved since the commission membership level was recently reduced from 9 to 7, thereby making quorums easier to make. She stressed that even though commissioners were serving voluntarily, they had a duty to meet the conditions of their job.
[revised on 11/25/12]
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