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INSIDE | State’s high court supports city’s marijuana ban [3] Inside | Kent teachers vote against one-day walkout [8]
FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015
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e m o h proveim t men
City finds companies not paying B&O tax
Tensions grow over possible program cuts at Green River
BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com
The city of Kent continues to round up more businesses who aren’t paying the business and occupation (B&O) tax. “We have identified 29 new taxpayers and collected $487,000 in delinquent taxes,” City Finance Director Aaron BeMiller said at a City Council workshop on May 19. That’s the number tracked down just in the first three months of 2015. City staff expects to find more businesses to pay the tax that became effective in 2013. Councilman Jim Berrios asked the finance department how it has found businesses that aren’t paying. “We have identified them
BY HEIDI SANDERS hsanders@kentreporter.com
Students, faculty and community members packed the Green River College Board of Trustees meeting May 21, concerned about potential program cuts and lack of communication from college leaders. College officials notified faculty in April that four programs could be eliminated because of a budget shortfall, citing low enrollment in auto body technology and geographic information systems, and the high cost of offering carpentry and parentchild education. Faculty members claim the potential cuts target members of the Union Faculty and are an act of retaliation. Per contract stipulations, faculty members have until June 8 to
Mayor to receive $20K cash payout when term ends
[ more COLLEGE page 8 ]
KIF returns to ShoWare
BY STEVE HUNTER
FOR THE REPORTER
shunter@kentreporter.com
The seventh annual Kent International Festival returns to the ShoWare Center on Saturday. The free festival offers a full day of entertainment, food and fun that celebrates Kent’s cultural diversity. The The festival will kick off [ more KIF page 2 ]
Student actors perform their roles as survivors and victims of a tragic mock crash at Kentridge High School. MARK KLAAS, Kent Reporter
Inside | Home improvement section [B1-B8]
Drive to state Kent-Meridian’s Jahleel Smith, all 5 foot 3, climbs 14 feet to capture the pole vault crown at the West Central District 4A track and field meet at French Field last Saturday. Smith will join teammates at this weekend’s state championships at Mount Tahoma High in Tacoma. Story, more photos, pages 17, 18. MARK KLAAS, Kent Reporter
Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke is set to receive about a $20,000 cash payout when she’s not longer the mayor under what the city calls a management benefits program. That fact turned up as part of the information gathering by the city’s Independent Salary Commission, a group of five residents who will determine this summer pay
in several ways,” said Barbara Lopez, city financial planning manager. “We have people who ride the train to work in the morning and they have seen (business) names they recognize and names they don’t recognize. We have done some drive-arounds and found a couple of others. Sometimes the taxpayers come forward saying this came on our radar and we haven’t been paying it.” In 2014, 2,483 taxpayers filed the B&O returns. A total of 1,463 of those paid the tax while 1,020 filed but didn’t pay because the businesses gross revenue numbers were lower than the $250,000 exemption or other waivers. [ more B&O page 2 ]
hikes for the mayor and City Council. “That could be a significant fact,” said Greg Haffner, Cooke commission chairman, to the rest of the members during a Tuesday meeting. Becky Fowler, city benefits manager, met with the commission to explain the benefit packages for the mayor and council. “We are unique in that,” Fowler said about the management benefits, which also are available to city employees [ more SALARY page 4 ]
A DEADLY LESSON FOR KENT TEENS Gift of Life increases awareness of drinking, driving BY MARK KLAAS mklaas@kentreporter.com
The students were actors, the scene a mock two-car traffic collision, the result of a street race gone terribly bad. The victims? Two deceased
teens, a passenger of one car, the driver of another. The witnesses? Friends tossed into a traumatic event. The cause? An 18-year-old boy driving impaired, someone who had been drinking at a
post-graduation party. It was a surreal simulation, a true-to-life reenactment tragically played out in an empty parking lot in front of a large teen audience at Kentridge High School last Friday. “It’s kinda scary. It’s scary [ more GIFT OF LIFE page 4 ]