City of Tacoma Washington sent this bulletin at 11/30/2021 01:44 PM PST
Introduction
Good Afternoon,
I apologize for the length of this newsletter, but the month of November was very busy for me, my family, and the City. From a return to trick-or-treating in the neighborhood for Halloween (with a Mummy and Indiana Jones) to another fun Tacoma City Turkey Trot, we have found ways to get back to some of our favorite activities in our community.
I was also excited this past month to return to the classroom (at least for a day) as a substitute teacher. While my normal role with Tacoma Public Schools is as an instructional facilitator, as we continue to find more substitute teachers, I was happy to step in and do my part at Silas High School. The students were wonderful and it was great to be teaching high school civics and U.S. History again.
Beyond family and work, the City Council has been working through many big items this month that I am happy to share including changes to the Multi-Family Property Tax Exemption, adopting a budget update, and finalizing non-interim regulations for the Tideflats. As always, please feel free to reach out to me to share your thoughts and concerns. I invite you to also tune in to the City Council’s Study Session or Council meetings on Tuesdays via TV Tacoma, Facebook Live, or via Zoom, login cityoftacoma.org/councilmeetings.
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Catching Up With Council Member Hines
The Multi-Family Property Tax Exemption (MFTE)
If you have been following the monthly email update, you know this has been a focus of mine over the last few months. This past month, the Government Performance and Finance Committee (GPFC) sent our recommendations for changes to the entire City Council and they were approved on November 9. This was the result of over seven months of work starting with the initial ordinance that Council Member Walker and I sponsored to change the Multi-Family Housing Tax Exemption in parts of District 1. At the June 29 Council meeting, that ordinance was sent to GPFC and I committed to working in committee to bring it back to the Council this fall along with other potential changes to the MFTE.
Some of the changes that were adopted by the Council through Resolution 40866 include:
Expand the 12-year and 20-year MFTE along key corridors to areas already zoned as commercial
Expand 12-year and 20-year MFTE to areas rezoned as “mid-scale” through the Home in Tacoma process
Lower the income threshold from 80 percent to 70 percent of the median family income adjusted for family size for Pierce County for rent-restricted units
Include a requirement for Council to revisit changes to the MFTE program in three years
This also included the passage of the original ordinance that was proposed by Council Member Walker and I to:
Eliminate the eight-year MFTE in mixed-use centers designated “very high” opportunity based on the City’s Equity Index (for now those are Proctor and Point Ruston).
Throughout this process, I was committed to answering a question I have heard multiple times in the past few months, “What is the City doing to ensure when new housing is built that it is affordable?” While in the past year the Council has passed a sales tax to specifically fund affordable housing, making changes to the MFTE is another step in our work to implement our Affordable Housing Action Strategy (AHAS).
This package of changes, if adopted through ordinance in the coming weeks, will do more to support the construction of affordable housing in Tacoma than any other policy change in years. In my mind, this was a great example of policy making that involved multiple perspectives, including the development community, to find a policy that was the right fit for Tacoma.
Budget Modifications
Our City currently operates on a two-year budget cycle. Our current budget was approved in 2020 for the 2021-2022 biennium. While this was not a budget year, the Council does make modification at the mid-way point of the budget, and these were approved at our November 16 Council meeting (listen here).
Some of the items that I wanted to highlight that I was happy to support in the budget modification were:
Tidy-Up Tacoma in 2022 – Tidy-Up Tacoma was something I was very supportive of in 2021 and was very well received by the community. Keeping it going in 2022 was one of my biggest priorities. This upcoming year, the budget includes two full time grounds crew staff to continue the Tidy-Up efforts started this fall. The new staff will perform minor vegetation management, litter patrol, and graffiti removal on City-owned assets in the neighborhood commercial districts. Along with these resources, I am still excited to find ways to work with our community to keep Tacoma beautiful!
Police Recruitment Incentives – As I have said previously, I want to make sure we have the resources available to attract and keep the best people in our Tacoma Police Department. Through my work with other council members and mayors on the National League of Cities Public Safety and Crime Prevention Committee, I look forward to exploring new policies for recruitment and retention that will align these new resources to ensure we have a police force able to keep our entire city safe.
Neighborhood Planning for Proctor – Last year, I was happy to sponsor with Council Members Ushka and McCarthy, a neighborhood planning program for the McKinley and Proctor Neighborhood Centers. In the last budget, we only had enough funding to do one neighborhood center, but I worked to include additional funding so that both Proctor and McKinley could begin neighborhood planning in 2022! In talking with many of you, I know how important this neighborhood plan is in order to determine what it is that makes Proctor special and establish what we want to preserve before it is gone. I look forward to starting this conversation with many of you next year.
Reserve Policy, Deferred Maintenance, and Fiscal Responsibility – As chair of the Government Performance and Finance Committee, I have been focused on the long-term financial health of our city. We were able, through strong financial management, to weather the COVID-19 pandemic as a city, but we need to make sure we are prepared for the next potential financial crisis. This past year, I was happy to lead the update to our City’s reserve policy to make sure we were saving funds to prepare for financial downturns and potential crises (this year included $13 million in our new Emergency Reserve Fund). I am also eager to continue to look at our deferred maintenance and making sure we are maintaining our City facilities. I think it is important that we remain good stewards of public funds and ensure we always have the resources and facilities needed to deliver the high quality, core public services you expect.
There were a few other items I was happy to support including further support for the Tacoma Public Library, completing a Tacoma Fire Department facilities study, and further examining how the City communicates with the public.
Home in Tacoma
Home in Tacoma is now before the Council. The first phase which is focused mostly on the proposed changes to the zoning map, was scheduled for November 30, but has been rescheduled to December 7. At our November 23 Study Session, Council Members proposed a total of thirteen (13) amendments to the proposal (which can be found here). In order to work through the amendments by Council, a Special Meeting has been scheduled for December 1 (which you can listen to here.)
That being said, I have heard from many of you that you are concerned about the scope, scale, speed and substance of the changes proposed through Home in Tacoma. I recognize that this is a major change and that we need to take the time to get it right. After Phase One (1) is adopted, the real work will begin on Phase Two (2). This work includes some of the critically important things we have talked about, including:
Design standards
Infrastructure and services
Parking and transportation choices
Reducing the potential demolition of viable structures
Green, sustainable, and resilient housing
Promoting physical accessibility
I am committed to making sure this is done in a public and transparent way and willing to put the time in that is necessary to get things right. Tacoma is growing, but I recognize that we need to balance that growth with many of the concerns that have been raised by the residents I represent.
Scenes From the City of Destiny
Visit to Schnitzer Steel
This past month, Council Member Walker and I visited Schnitzer Steel on the Tacoma Tideflats. It was great to learn about how they take scrap and recycle it into new products (the car shredder was very impressive). I was also very impressed with their work to be environmentally responsible and the precautions they take to keep contaminants out of the air and water.
This month, the Council adopted Non-Interim Regulations for the Tideflats. This was a discussion that had been going on for years, with the renewal of interim regulations happening every six months. I was happy to vote for the current non-interim regulations as they will help us move on to the discussions as a community about what we want to see in the Tideflats in the future.
I have been deeply interested in Green Hydrogen and other alternative fuels. With Tacoma Public Utilities having their first in the nation rate to support electro-fuels, a world class deep-water port, connections to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, current fuels infrastructure and a workforce to support the industry, I believe we can become a hub for alternative fuels in the years ahead.
You can find more information on the City’s Tideflats Non-Interim Regulations online here.
YWCA of Pierce County
You may not know, but before joining the Tacoma City Council, I was a member of the YWCA of Pierce County Board. This is a phenomenal organization and a leader in supporting and empowering survivors of domestic violence with trauma informed care. While on the board, I was part of the development of the new Dorothy I. Height Apartments which include 54 units of permanent and affordable housing that is desperately needed in our community.
Since I left the board to join the City Council, I was not there for the groundbreaking of the building, so Council Member Walker and I returned for a tour and to learn more about the programs offered by the YWCA. Much of my passion for affordable housing came from my experiences on the YWCA Board and that has carried into my work on Council. It was great to hear about all they continue to do and I will forever be a proud supporter of their work!
Resources for Utility Assistance
As we move forward through the phases of pandemic recovery together, we know many customers in our community struggle financially. Here are several resources available to help:
Information about limited federal and other relief funds for utility bills available to Tacoma and Pierce County residents
Expanded residential utility payment assistance so more households can qualify to receive additional help
Updates about when disconnects and late fees will resume
Multiple ways to pay your bill, including online and Pay Box locations
Extended payment arrangements and waiver of late fees
Tips for lowering electricity and water use at your home or business
The challenges we are facing in Tacoma with COVID-19 are unprecedented, but I want to let you know that we are taking important steps to address it in our community. We are working hard to support residents, families and businesses as we continue to address this public health crisis.
Rental and Utility Assistance: Pierce County and City of Tacoma residents struggling to pay rent or utilities due to impacts of COVID-19 can apply for assistance: PierceCountyWA.gov/housinghelp
Washington State/Governor Jay Inslee COVID-19 Response: coronavirus.wa.gov
Please be sure to check out cityoftacoma.org for City updates and resources and, as always, please email me directly at john.hines@cityoftacoma.org and do not reply to this email. You can also call me at (253) 312-5620 if you have questions.