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DUI PATROLS | Until Jan. 1, extra enforcement patrols throughout the state [page 5]
Falcons sore | Kentlake starts season 2-1, WEBSITE | Check the website for breaking beats Curtis 38-34 [15] news, sports and weather stories. maplevalleyreporter.com or covingtonreporter.com
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
Mayor Margaret Harto retires her gavel Arrest
made in Covington murder
Harto was appointed to the Covington City Council in 2002 and elected in 2003 BY DENNIS BOX Editor
The longest serving and most respected mayor in the 19-year history of Covington, Margaret Harto, announced she will hang up the gavel as of Dec. 31. Harto presided over her last meeting as mayor Tuesday when she made the announcement at the end of the meeting. Her family, including her husband Larry, her children and grandchildren were present. She will return in January as a council member for the next four years. She won an uncontested election for her council seat in November. Covington has a council-manager form of government. The mayor is selected by City Council from the members. Many city leaders step down after losing an election, or under less than happy circumstances. Harto retires after a decade of unblemished service on the dais as mayor, on her terms and at her choosing. Harto began her retirement statement at the close of the meeting saying, “It certainly has been my privilege and honor these last 10 year to serve and be the leader of this council, but it is time for a change. Each one of you, and all I have served with, have left a very significant footprint on my heart. Tonight I am telling you it is time for this
BY DENNIS BOX Editor
Covington Mayor Margaret Harto stirs the hot chocolate Saturday as Laura Roth pours syrup at the tree lighting event. DENNIS BOX, The Reporter mayor to retire.” The mayor said her husband, “the guy you call the mayor’s chauffeur, we’ve been together 54 years; I have decided he is the most important person in my life.” She said the council members have, “really become my family and you are what my community is all about. You are keeping me going every day. You love me and support
Maple Valley 2016 budget: a sign of the city times BY RAY STILL Reporter
Like many cities across Washington, Maple Valley is coming out of the recession shaken, but standing. The city’s 2016 budget acknowledges that while economic recovery is trickling, tough decisions will still have to be made to keep the city in the black and give its residents the necessary services. In the upcoming year, Maple
Valley predicts a smaller revenue stream than the previous year, about $16.7 million, two million less than 2015. Coupled with the $17.5 million ending fund balance that rolls over from this year into the next (to tide the city over until taxes are collected in the spring) the city has close to $34 million in available funds. While revenues have dipped, expenditures have grown to almost $22.8 million, the highest
level in recent years. The city plans to bow out of 2016 with just under $14 million in the ending fund balance, the beginning of a downward trend of shrinking ending fund balances until around 2019 or 2020.
TAXES With assessed property values continuing their upward trend, Maple Valley residents can expect to pay $1.15 in property taxes per $1,000 in assessed property value. The actual levy rate is down 7 cents from the previous year because the city can only collect an additional 1 percent more in property taxes from the year prior, plus any increases associ-
FAMILY & FRIENDS
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ated with new construction and annexation. The city plans to collect just over $3.6 million in property taxes, close to a million more than in 2015. While property tax revenue continues to improve with the recovering economy, Maple Valley’s other major source of revenue - residential development - is just about finished. In fact, the number of single family residential permits has shrunk from more than 400 in 2005 to about 30 this year, and, “is foreseen to end within the next three to five years,” City Manager David Johnston wrote in the city’s proposed budget. The city’s Finance Director,
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2015 ONLY
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me in every single way. I want you to know how much I love each one of you.” She adjourned the meeting with a gavel craved from a maple tree that grew in her backyard. The couple moved to Covington in 1969 and raised four children, all graduates of the Kent School District. She was appointed to the council in 2002 and elected in 2003.
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Exclusions apply. See below for details. Offer good 12/13/15 only.
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King County Sheriff ’s detectives arrested Jordan Rashaan Coleman Saturday afternoon for the Nov. 18 murder of 26-year-old Dorian M. Haddix in Covington. The 18-year-old Coleman, who is from Renton, was arrested POLICE on the charge NEWS of first-degree murder. He appeared in King County Superior Court Monday and is being held on $1 million bail. He was scheduled to make a second appearance Wednesday for a charging hearing according to King County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Dan Donohoe. Coleman is alleged to have shot Haddix sometime prior [ more MURDER page 6 ]
Shawn Hunstock, said the city plans to issue 50 permits in 2016, but whether the city will hit that number is yet to be seen. Every year after, Hunstock said, the city plans to issue 35 permits. The increase in property taxes is helping to make up for the lack of development related revenue, as well as sales tax, which continues to grow as well. Sales tax revenue is expected to increase by $200,000 in 2016, totalling out to just over $4 million, another sign of a recovering economy as more Maple Valley residents, and visitors to the city, spend more, Hunstock said. [ more BUDGET page 6 ]
Covington 27116 167th Place SE, Suite #108 Covington, Washington 98042 Sunday 11AM to 7PM 1487815