The Kent City Council held a special meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 to address pressing matters, including approving the purchase of a new municipal headquarters and a budget workshop for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
New Municipal Headquarters Purchase Approved
Council voted unanimously to purchase a property from BECU, which will become the new administrative office headquarters for the city. Council Chambers and Kent Police will move into a new City Hall in the Centennial building.
The condition of the buildings of the current city hall campus are unsafe and outdated, after being in use for around 50 years. In addition, they are too limited in size for the current and future operations. The option to purchase and renovate was found to be the most cost-effective, after comparing with the costs involved in building a new headquarters.
The purchase price will be $11,250,000, a reduction from the original property listing of $14,200,000. The price reduction was agreed upon because of some needed repairs to the building, which is being sold as is. The building will come furnished with desks, chairs, and other office furniture.
The property, which is in the CenterPointe Office Park, can be found at 20610 68th Ave S. (map below) The purchase will close in 30 days. Mayor Dana Ralph said that with this decision, the council is “setting the city up to provide service for the next 50 years.”
2025-2026 Budget Workshop
During this workshop, questions on the proposed biennial budget were addressed.
One question was why revenue from parking penalties would be increasing from $85,000 to $216,000. It was explained that parking restrictions will be more actively enforced. This revenue might not stay high over the years, however, as people realize that they can no longer park illegally without a fine.
The Spotlight Series is getting a $55,000 boost, and it was asked if the program wasn’t self-sustaining. It was explained that many of the performers do bring in enough money for an 85% to 100% recovery rate, depending on the lineup. However, the city provides ticketing discounts for seniors as well as young adults. In addition, all the costs involved in putting on shows are escalating, making it harder to break even.
Chief Rafael Padilla explained that a service which will provide AI-assisted police reports will still provide good value, even after a recent announcement that these AI-assisted police reports cannot be used for prosecution. Padilla explained that there are plenty of other cases where AI reports will be a huge timesaver for officers.
B&O Tax Discussion Ongoing
Council could not reach consensus on whether to increase the B&O tax for businesses.
Councilmember Toni Troutner expressed concerns with the tax increase hurting local businesses. When it was explained that the impact would be just $5,000 per year for mid-size businesses, concerns were allayed.
However, there was an impasse when Councilmemeber Zandria Michaud argued that she would only agree to the B&O tax increase if the money was used to hire more police officers. It costs $190,000 per year for each new officer, and that cost increases as the officer gains experience and seniority. The higher B&O tax could bring in an estimated $370,000 of additional revenue.
While other council members concurred that the city needed more officers on the underfunded force, they did not want to commit to spending the money until the city’s budget is a little more balanced. Councilmember Bill Boyce thought they should hold off on hiring another officer; with so many unknowns in the city’s financial future, the money might be needed elsewhere. Councilmember Troutner thought the idea of using this money for new officers should be revisited in the next budget, but that the city should hold steady for now.
Staff said the city would continue to advocate to the state legislature for a change in the law to be able to more fully fund the police. In addition, it was agreed that this issue needs more discussion, and will be addressed next week. Final approval of the biennial budget is expected to take place on Dec. 10, 2024.
