While the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council was recommending joining Burien, and the Burien Planning Commission was saying no, attendees at a community forum on annexation expressed interest in joining Seattle.

The Dec. 3 forum at Mount View Elementary School brought out more of North Highline's ethnic minorities than previous public meetings about future governance of White Center and Boulevard Park.

Half of the approximately 120 attendees said they would prefer being annexed by Seattle.

The forum on annexation was sponsored by a group called Trusted Advocates. The program is run by Making Connections, an organization of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The anti-poverty foundation is spending numerous years investing millions of dollars in White Center to improve prospects for low-income children and families.

King County Executive Ron Sims, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and Burien Mayor Noel Gibb all spoke at the forum.

During part of the forum, hand-held transmitters similar to TV remote controllers were placed on every chair in the large room. Audience members used the devices to register their preferences to a series of questions. They had 10 seconds to make each selection and audience totals were displayed on a large screen within seconds of each vote.

Answering a question about which city North Highline ought to join, 50 percent of the audience pushed the Seattle button and 26 percent pushed the button for Burien.

When asked what is North Highline's top priority, the largest group (27 percent) called for better social services.

According to the meeting "e-poll," the most important factor to be considered about annexation is social services.

North Highline's greatest asset is its ethnic diversity, said 48 percent of respondents.

Nearly two-thirds of the audience said they needed more information to make a judgment on annexation.

There were eight translators at Saturday's forum and 44 percent of attendees said they speak two languages.

However, the electronic poll also showed the largest group of audience members (38 percent) was born in the U.S. The second-most (25 percent) were born in Asia.

The e-poll also revealed that 48 percent of the attendees own their homes and 45 percent have lived in North Highline at least 10 years.

When asked about their employment status, the largest group (38 percent) responded they are working but not earning enough to support their families.

The crowd at Saturday's forum divided into discussion groups based on what language people spoke to talk over their main concerns about annexation.

In one English-speaking discussion group, people wanted to know how to slow the annexation process so that more North Highline residents will participate in the public debate.

They also want to see comparisons between Burien and Seattle regarding taxes, services, quality-of-life issues and other considerations. They wondered how either Burien or Seattle will overcome North Highline's estimated $5 million annual deficit.

They wanted to know if King County is going to pay to fix its wing-weary South Park Bridge.

How will Boulevard Park residents negotiate their future?

People in the discussion group also wondered if they could prevent either adjoining city from "slapping a PAA (potential annexation area) on us."

During the last portion of the forum, questions from the discussion groups were put to Seattle Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis and Scott Greenberg, director of the Burien Department of Community Development.

Taxes would remain about the same for North Highline residents if they joined Seattle, Ceis said. Property taxes are at the same rate and North Highline residents wouldn't have to pay Seattle school levies because they would remain in the Highline School District.

Ceis also said there was "a good chance" that the Southwest Suburban Sewer District and North Highline's water districts would continue to serve the area.

Greenberg said Burien's business-and-occupation tax is lower than Seattle's. Burien exempts the first $100,000 of a business's income while Seattle collects the tax on that income.

If North Highline residents decide they want to remain unincorporated, they can expect services currently provided by King County to diminish, said Elissa Benson, regional governance group supervisor in the county executive's office.

The county is scheduled to issue its plan for North Highline in early January, she said.The Burien City Council was scheduled to hold a public hearing about annexation of North Highline at 7 p.m. Dec. 12.

The city council is expected to vote on the matter at its Monday, Dec. 19, meeting.

Tim St. Clair can be reached at tstclair@robinsonnews.com or 206-932-0300.