The Maple Valley City Council approved a .94 percent property tax levy increase, effective Jan. 1, 2015. But, the tax rate has decreased from $1.46 per $1,000 of assessed value to $1.25 per $1,000 of assessed value due to an influx of commercial property, according to City Manager David Johnston.

This means that residents can rest easy knowing their property taxes will most likely not increase, despite the increase in the levy amount that was approved at the Nov. 24 council meeting.

However, the city is looking at potentially running a bond in the next year or so to fund capital projects for parks and recreation.

New park facilities is arguably one of the top things that the community has expressed a need for, Johnston said.

Johnston said one thing is for certain, the city doesn’t have a lot of park land, either developed or undeveloped.

The 2015 preliminary capital budget, outlined by Johnston and Finance Director Shawn Hunstock, has 30.7 percent of the capital revenue earmarked as voted bond proceeds for 2015-2020. This doesn’t mean that the city plans on running a bond in 2015, but it does mean that a voter-initiated bond is one of the few options the city has for funding parks projects, according to Greg Brown, parks and recreation director.

“You’ve got four projects (in the budget) that rely heavily on voted bonds,” Brown said to the council at the meeting.

Those projects include finishing Summit Park, a youth, community and senior facility, Lake Wilderness Park and a community park acquisition. The total estimated bond proceeds for those projects is about $18.8 million.

If the city decides to run a bond for these projects, it will be the first voter-initiated bond in the city’s 17-year history.

However, getting a bond on a ballot carries a hefty price tag, approximately $30,000. But, Johnston thinks that the community may be willing to pass one for parks because of the need many of them have expressed.

It took two tries for the Tahoma School District to pass a bond for the construction of a new high school and regional learning center, but the $195 million bond did eventually get voter approval.

“Sometimes you have to do it more than once,” said Johnston, anticipating that it may not be a one-time effort.

The city has a clear revenue gap for funding parks projects. One suggestion brought to the council last week was to close and sell Lake Wilderness Golf Course.

Les Burberry of Maple Valley said the timing is right. He said there may be someone willing to take the risk right now because Elk Run Golf Course has closed. But, he added, once one year goes by and Lake Wilderness hasn’t seen an increase in the number of rounds of golf, the window of opportunity to sell will have passed.

However, Deputy Mayor Sean Kelly isn’t convinced the golf course is a lost cause. He said he wants the city to watch it and see how it does in the next year or more before entertaining the idea of selling it. He added that the council has not discussed closing the golf course.

The City Council is planning on approving their 2015 budget at next Monday’s City Council meeting at 7 p.m.