Some good news came out of the first meeting of the newly formed City of Sammamish Finance Committee on Tuesday night — building and real estate activity is showing signs of improvement.
City Finance Director Lyman Howard told the committee, which includes Sammamish councilors Tom Odell, Nancy Whitten and Mark Cross, that in the first two months of 2010 the city had received 15 permit requests for construction of single family residences, up from five during the same period last year.
“Things are looking up, in January, and even a little better in February,” Howard said. “We have been hearing about an improvement anecdotally, but these are real numbers.”
The city has also received 16 applications to approve remodeling or additions to single family residences in 2010, up from three in January and February of 2009.
The councilors, along with City Manager Ben Yazici and staff from the Public Works Department, also shared news that at least one major developer in the city was planning on starting new projects this year.
Howard also distributed figures which showed some improvement in the local real estate market. The average sale price of homes in Sammamish for the first two months of 2010 was up from 2009, when the market was hitting its lowest point, and even eclipsed 2007 figures for the same period. Property sale activity is also up on 2009, though still well below 2008 and 2007 numbers.
What this means for the city is more Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) revenue. REET is one of the city’s biggest sources of revenue, typically bringing more than $2 million a year. In 2009 Sammamish budgeted for $2.6 million in REET revenue, but when this came in nearly $1 million short, it put a squeeze on the city’s already tight finances.
One of the purposes of reforming the Finance Committee, which was disbanded in 2005, was to address the likelihood that in the next few years the city will be faced with expenditures which exceed their revenues. This crossover point was barely touched upon on Tuesday night. Instead, the committee, which elected Odell as its chair, took a broader view at just what its role would be as a supplement to the full council.
Odell repeated his desire to take a closer look at options for trimming city expenditure, particularly the fees paid to consultants.
“One area I’d really like to look at is the outside services account,” he said.
The Finance Committee meetings, to be held at 5 p.m. on the first Tuesday of the month, at City Hall, will be open to the public. However, the committee stressed that there would be a very limited amount of time for public comment.
Instead, Howard encouraged residents who have questions or comments to contact finance staff directly during business hours.
