The Maple Valley City Council voted 7-0 to adopt a $53,633,940 biennial budget for 2019-20 on Nov. 26. This budget is 17 percent larger than it was in previous years.

Laura Philpot, Maple Valley city manager, said this is because there is more money set aside to start working on projects and transportation improvements.

“There’s more capital funds being reinvested,” she said.

According to Sandy Garrett, finance director, the city expects operating revenues to be around $48 million over the next two year period.

She said operating expenditures are anticipated to be around $35 million. There will also be capital project spending of around $15 million, which includes Transportation Program, Surface Water Management Program, Parks and Recreation Program and Community Facilities Program.

Philpot explained the money for the budget comes from a lot places, but some of the key components are from property taxes, impact fees, tax revenue and utility taxes, but she said the city is always looking for grant opportunities.

“The money comes from the people and from the developers investing in the community. And without getting specific about what different sources are and what different accounts they can be spent on, the reality is council and staff have heard loudly and clearly from the members of the community, both the development community and the residents, that they want us to continue to invest in the community, in areas they have found to be important,” Deputy Mayor Dana Parnello explained.

According to Maple Valley Mayor Sean Kelly, the city staff wanted to work hard on getting services to the community. For instance, getting more public works employees, more police officers and more park enhancements.

“The council was really big on making sure we were reinvesting funds back into the community. That’s really about increasing our maintenance and increasing our police presence,” followed Philpot.

How the money will be used

Garrett said about $12 million is going towards the Transportation Program.

An example of the what will be included in the Transportation Program is a traffic signal, which will be installed at the Kent-Kangley and 242nd Avenue Southeast intersection.

“This intersection has had continued congestion and safety concerns as traffic in this area has increased. The estimated project timeline is 2020,” Garrett said.

There is also the widening of state Route 169, which adds an additional northbound land,eliminating a bottleneck leading into the Four Corners commercial area, Garrett said. There will also be sidewalks, bicycle lanes, storm water enhancements and street lights that are also included in this construction project, which is estimated to be completed in 2022.

“The council is extremely committed to continuing our enhancements on transportation and infrastructure. Making sure our roads are an A plus rating. And also continuing to get state grants for continuing funding of our roads, especially 169 and 516, Kent Kangley,” Kelly said.

Garrett went on to say the Transportation Project money will also go towards Witte Road improvements on the southern side of the corridor between SR 169 and SR 516.

“The project will improve sight distance, add sidewalks and bicycle lanes, enhanced stormwater facilities and provide channelization to SR 516. The estimated construction project timeline is 2021,” Garrett explained.

The budget for the Parks and Recreation Program is around $1.3 million, Garrett said.

This money will be going towards funding to bring Summit Park online next year, she explained, along with support staff for Summit Park.

Summit Park and Ball Fields is a project that the council adopted in 2010. The new playing fields will be located next to Tahoma High School and will include baseball fields, soccer fields, a new playground and other outdoor entertainment, according to the city of Maple Valley website. For for information on Summit Park, go to www.maplevalleywa.gov/what-s-happening/current-projects/summit-park-master-plan.

Garrett also said the Parks and Recreation budget will include a Lake Wilderness parking lot expansion to address the issue with lack of parking.

Improvements to the Lake Wilderness Golf Course will also be made. There will be improvements to the existing clubhouse, Garrett said.

The council also approved the addition of two police patrol officers. One officer will be added in 2019, and the other one will be added in 2020, Garrett said.

The discussion about how the money will be used for the next two years went very smooth, according to both Kelly and Parnello.

“I think one of the reasons it went so smoothly is that we have a council that is collaborating really well, not with each other alone, but also with staff. The staff that is not just listening to council, but raising flags and saying, ‘Let’s make sure that we’re clear about the direction,’” Parnello said. “When staff put together a really thorough and detailed two-year budget, council was able to look at it, review it, had adequate time to discuss it and then asked questions in advance if needed. The conversation went really, really smoothly and that helped make adoption go very easily.”

Kelly said no one showed up for public comment in regards to the budget, which means it can be assumed there were no concerns with it especially because there’s no new taxes.

Parnello said he even had a community member to call and tell him the council did a good job with its budget.

“I actually received a phone call and an email from a person who has been involved in the community for many, many years, and sort of inserted himself in a lot of different public processes, and has raised a number of concerns in previous years, and he called and he said, ‘Well, I’m running out of things to complain about, and I guess that’s a good thing. I like your budget, it looks really good. Good job.’ So that’s a good sign,” Parnello said.