The city of Burien officially annexes the southern portion of North Highline on Thursday, April 1.

Burien will jump up ten spots from the 31st largest city in the state to 21st, passing the state capitol of Olympia. The city will add about 14,500 people to its 31,000 current residents.

It appears that White Center and the rest of the northern portion of North Highline will remain unincorporated for some time.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and the Seattle City Council have announced they will delay annexation until next year or beyond because it would cost too much to provide services.

Burien City Manager Mike Martin said some Burien lawmakers are interested in annexing the northern part in possibly two or three years but the council wants to wait for the successful annexation of the southern part before proceeding.

Also, Burien has agreed to give Seattle "first crack" at annexing the remaining unincorporated area, according to Martin.

"No way are we planning more annexation in the near future," Martin declared.

Voters in North Highline's southern part approved the annexation last August by a 55 percent to 45 percent margin.

"We think we have done everything possible to welcome our old new neighbors," Burien Mayor Joan McGilton declared.

Annexation proponents emphasized that Burien has historic ties to the newly acquired area, developed before the city incorporated 17 years ago.

There will be no official ceremony on Thursday but Burien plans to welcome the new residents with a city hall reception at 6:30 p.m., before the April 5 council meeting.

According to McGilton, the first visible change will be new Burien police uniforms for officers patrolling the new area. Burien contracts for police services from King County so the officers will remain the same, McGilton noted.

Martin thinks residents will not notice an immediate difference.

Fire services, utilities and schools will not change.

"But I think they will get a feeling that we are a real community here," Martin said.

Martin and McGilton promise a more responsive government than the unincorporated citizens may have experienced.

McGilton envisions that new residents will get a very different reception when they come to the nearby city hall to see planning, permitting or human services staffers.

"They will see a real person-what a novel idea,' McGilton joked.

Three billboards are scheduled to go up on March 29 welcoming the new residents in several languages.

They will be at Southwest 116th Street and Ambaum Boulevard Southwest, near Des Moines Memorial Drive and South 120th Street and First Avenue South and South 152nd Street.

Burien staffers mailed out letters to about 1,250 businesses in the newly annexed area alerting them to the need to apply for a new Burien business license and the existence of a .05 percent business and occupation tax on gross receipts.

The letter also notified the business owners of city services such as the TAG (Taking Aim at Graffiti) program and pre permit submittal meetings with a city planner.

Resources such as Discover Burien, Burien Business & Economic Development Partnership and the Small Business Development Center at Highline Community College were also discussed.

Despite the economic downturn, McGilton and Martin maintain the annexation will be revenue neutral-new tax collections generated from the new neighbors will match the cost of services to the area.

For municipalities, a poor economy mostly affects sales tax revenue but the predominantly residential annexed area does not produce a lot of sales tax, Martin noted.

City funds have been set aside for additional workers but "we won't add staff until the appropriate time," Mayor McGilton said.
Burien will receive up to $700,000 per year for 10 years in state sales tax credit for annexing the area.

Estimates are the new residents will pay about $128 more per year in taxes than they've been paying as county taxpayers.

On April 1 annexation day, a North Highline resident, who campaigned hard for annexation into Burien, will lose his job because of his successful efforts.

The North Highline Unincorporated Area Council holds its monthly meeting on Thursday. One of the first orders of business will be the resignation of president Greg Duff, who will no longer be a North Highline resident.

Duff says he lives two houses inside the new Burien city limits.

But he says moving to Burien will give he and his neighbors more of a say in their governing. Duff points out that in a 2006 North Highline council survey, 64 percent of the residents preferred annexing to Burien instead of Seattle.

Duff is hoping Burien annexes the remaining portion of the unincorporated area.

He said North Highline residents have not been provided figures on costs related to annexing to Seattle. Duff suggested a neutral party, such as King County, should compile the statistics.