Reporter ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, October 10, 2014
www.issaquahreporter.com
SWIMMING AT SALMON DAYS
Butler budget would mean $8 million surplus BY DANIEL NASH ISSAQUAH/SAMMAMISH REPORTER
BRYAN TRUDE, Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter
Devynn Morgan, right, decides whether or not to leave a salmon hanging during the 2014 Issaquah Salmon Days Parade, held Saturday, Oct. 4 in Issaquah. Thousands of people turned out over the weekend to celebrate the return of the salmon, coming inland from the sea to spawn. The parade ran up Front Street before turning west onto Northwest Gilman Boulevard. For more Salmon Days photos by Reporter staff, turn to Page 8.
Issaquah Mayor Fred Butler on Monday proposed a 2015 city budget that he said would leave nearly $8 million in the city’s general fund by that year’s end. Butler’s budget, if approved as-is by the City Council over the next month, will include a 1 percent increase to property taxes, an increase to the Business and Occupation tax effective in April and increases to certain service fees, such as park space rentals. Utility rates, however, would not increase and the city would seek cost savings through reorganization of city services, such as Parks and Recreation, as well as continuing two planning staff vacancies. Grants appropriated by city staff would alleviate the need for revenues gained by taxes. “As I turn now to how we’ve restructured our financial road map, I’d like to highlight these simple words: this is a balanced budget,” Butler said. The proposed budget is indeed balanced, but proposed expenses will still outpace estimated revenues, with the gap being bridged with a portion of the leftovers from 2014, according to a document detailing the budget provided by the city. The planned $118.3 million in total expenditures would be greater than revenues by nearly $11 million. All told, Issaquah would begin 2015 with more than $61 million and end it with a little more than $50 million. This is because of a number of capital projects being prioritized by the mayor’s office for 2015, as well as debt SEE BUDGET, 5
Samm. society feels sting of historical Kampp Barn loss It’s the 1910s in America. World War I is set to rage across countries, ballroom dancing is the big thing in America and, on a damp, forested plateau in western Washington, in what would become the city of Sammamish, the Kampp family built a barn. In and of itself, the Kampp barn was average. Built with a combination of planks and whole logs, it housed sheep for many years, until it was demolished to make way for the Kampp subdivision near the inter-
section of Southeast 20th Street and 228th Avenue Southeast. While not featured on any historical registers, the barn’s demise represents the loss of a piece of the plateau’s history, according to the Sammamish Historical Society, and could have been avoided. “They’re changing the whole contour of the land,” Walt Carrel, Sammamish Historical Society archivist, said. “The barn itself was interesting … the really old ones were made of great big timbers, but after the turn SEE BARN, 11
Photo provided by the Sammamish Historical Society
The Kampp Barn, as it appeared before being demolished last month, was considered a piece of Sammamish’s agrarian history, despite not being on any historical records, by members of the Sammamish Historical Society.
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BY BRYAN TRUDE
ISSAQUAH/SAMMAMISH REPORTER