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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2014
PROPERTY
Mayor: City needs more staff to oversee B&O tax system
WITH A PURPOSE
BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com
Apparently, $300,000 a year for two auditors to oversee the city of Kent’s business and occupation (B&O) tax isn’t enough. Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke told the City Council at its Tuesday night workshop that the city needs to spend more money for more staff. The council adopted the tax in 2012 to help pay for street repairs. The tax became effective in January 2013. “The $300,000 you have set aside from the B&O tax for staffing of the B&O is Cooke showing itself to be clearly not sufficient,” Cooke said at a workshop to discuss where to spend the nearly $5 million annual revenue from the tax. “The auditors have not been able to do one single audit yet in setting up the system. “Just as a heads up when you look at this budget I urge you not to get too hung up on the $300,000 staff costs that you’ve looked at for the administration of it. It will be more.” Councilman Bill Boyce had a quick question for Cooke. [ more B&O page 4 ]
School land deal draws large family together BY ROSS COYLE rcoyle@kentreporter.com
Bill Parmenter, of Kent, uses a genealogy tree to notate the stake each of his family members have in an acre parcel of land. The land, being sold by the school district, has made Parmenter reconnect with many family members. ROSS COYLE, Kent Reporter
It’s not every day that a bureaucratic land deal forces you to reconnect with distant relatives on the other side of a continent. But that’s exactly what happened to Bill Parmenter when the Kent School District discussed selling the old Panther Lake elementary school. “I always knew there was a story there,” said the Kent postal worker, “but I didn’t know much about it.” But as the land sale started to go through, Parmenter and the school district quickly learned just how much family history was invested in Kent. Parmenter’s great-grandfather, Isaac Parmenter, had deeded an acre of land used in Panther Lake to the school district exclusively for education, and should it not be used for education would revert to the Parmenter heirs. Perhaps Isaac hadn’t counted on having such [ more LAND DEAL page 3 ]
A closer look at 7 City Council finalists BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com
MASCOTS TAKE TO THE ICE during intermission at the Thunderbirds’ game at the ShoWare Center on Sunday. The playoff-bound T-Birds return home to face Kamloops in Western Hockey League play at 6:05 p.m. Saturday. RACHEL CIAMPI, Reporter
The Kent City Council will choose among five women and two men for the vacant Kent City Council position. The council will interview the seven during a public meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25 at City Hall. Council members will go into executive session to discuss the
candidates and return in a public session to make the appointment to replace Ken Sharp. Sharp resigned last month after two weeks in office because of pending first-degree theft charges. The council will interview each candidate separately, said Council President Dana Ralph. Each candidate will be asked the same set of four or five questions and the
council will ask any followup questions. Council members earlier this month cut an application list of 38 people to seven. Several candidates lost in recent council elections but Ralph said those results were not part of the selection process. “We looked at each application,” Ralph said. “Once the election is done, it’s done. The appoint-
ment process is completely separate.” The council members are Ralph, Deborah Ranniger, Bill Boyce, Les Thomas, Dennis Higgins and Jim Berrios. Here’s a short profile of the seven finalists based on information they submitted to the city as well as previous Kent Reporter stories: [ more FINALISTS page 4 ]
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