You’ve got mail, Lacey, but city mailer on parks vote isn’t making everyone happy

The city of Lacey has released a mailer explaining Proposition 1, the November ballot measure that seeks to create a Metropolitan Park District to raise money for future park investments.

However, the mailer doesn’t include information about the most controversial project the money could be spent on: an indoor sports facility.

A majority of Lacey City Council members support the parks district plan, but the measure has drawn opposition from the Libertarian Party of Thurston County, which has raised concerns about higher property taxes and the potential trickle down effect on already expensive rents in the area.

The party also took aim at the timing of a feasibility study on a future indoor sports facility, which might be funded by the parks district. At one point, Lacey officials said the study would be complete by September. Now, the $38,000 study is not expected to be complete until after the election in late November or December, City Manager Scott Spence said Tuesday.

A business called Hunden Strategic Partners is still collecting data for the study, Spence said.

Libertarian Party spokesman Chris Rohloff said residents will be voting on the parks district, and potentially funding the indoor sports facility, without knowing the true costs of it.

“Now, nobody has a clue,” Rohloff said.

Previously the city estimated that the 40,000-square-foot indoor sports facility might cost $16 million and have annual maintenance costs of $750,000.

Spence downplayed the indoor sports facility on Tuesday, saying it was never a primary consideration for the city, but a secondary one. A more urgent need for the city is to increase the number of ball fields. The Lacey area lost the use of five ballfields after Bucknell Field on Marvin Road closed in late 2016, he said.

If the parks district is approved by voters on Nov. 6, it will raise about $2.7 million a year, based on a property tax of 47 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, or about $11.75 per month for a home assessed at $300,000. The state allows the city to levy up to 75 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, but the city proposes maintaining it at the 47-cent level.

If approved, the money could be spent on:

▪ Eight multi-use athletic fields.

▪ Water spray park.

▪ Regional Athletic Complex expansion.

▪ Five playground structures.

▪ Trail system development.

The indoor sports facility is not mentioned in the mailer.

Although 6 of 7 Lacey City Council members support the parks district proposal , councilman Lenny Greenstein does not. After a record year of sales tax revenue for the city, he thinks it is unnecessary.

Finance Director Troy Woo reported in August that city sales tax revenue was nearly 11 percent higher than the year before.

Still, councilwoman Carolyn Cox thinks the parks district makes sense for the city’s future.

“I think people 20-30 years from now will thank the voters of Lacey for having the commitment and vision,” she said in July.

This story was originally published October 16, 2018 at 4:54 PM.