This Monday and Tuesday evening the King County Boundary Review Board held public hearings regarding the annexation of North Highline and White Center. The Review Board is made up of 11 members. four are appointed by the King County Executive, three appointed by the Cities of King County, three by Special Purpose Districts, and one by the Governor.

In 2009, Burien annexed a portion of North Highline, but in 2012 when Burien attempted to annex the rest of the area, voters overwhelmingly turned it down. Since then Burien has removed North Highline and White Center from its potential annexation area.

Earlier this year the State Legislature passed, and the Governor signed, legislation that will direct $7.75 million in state sales tax revenue to Seattle each year for six years if the City annexes the area. This money is: “solely for the purpose of providing municipal services in the newly annexed area.” Adding this potential new state sales tax revenue to 2014 City revenue estimates shows that the on-going revenue raised from the area would be approximately $18 million/year. The on-going expenditures, or costs to the City, to support services in the area were estimated to be about $18 million – $31 million a year, not including additional one-time costs ranging from about $14 million to $123 million ($100 million backlog in asphalt and paving needs in North Highline being the biggest variable in this range). These 2014 numbers will be refreshed to reflect latest revenues/costs prior to the annexation being brought forward to the Council for its consideration.

This is an issue that will ultimately be decided by the voters, and is a continuing process, please see the table linked here for a tentative timeline. I would also encourage you to check out the reporting of the public hearings from Monday and Tuesday.

At the end of the discussion on the second night the Boundary Review Board closed the hearing and begin their deliberations, which then lasted for another 20 minutes. At this point the Board voted 8-1 to approve the annexation and direct staff to prepare the written findings and decision. This will likely be adopted at the Board’s regular meeting on July 14th.