After more than a week’s worth of results released by Snohomish County elections, at post time there were 3,741 “no” votes (53 percent) against Bothell annexation to 3,330 “yes” votes (47 percent) in the unincorporated Snohomish County North, East, West Bothell Annexation (NEWBA) area. Proposition 1 needed a simple majority to pass.
The “no” annexation group said that “Bothell’s annexation fails to maintain current levels of fire and emergency medical service,” two fully-staffed fire stations in the annexation area would close and emergency response time would rise from eight minutes to about 15 minutes.
The “yes” group disagreed with that assessment, noting that increased public services and lower property taxes were pluses to annexing into Bothell.
“I would say today that the ‘no’ campaign is very happy with the decision to reject annexation. Our grassroots effort started 13 years ago when the ‘yes’ campaign said they started,” said Bud NcCorchuk, treasurer for Citizens for Responsible Annexations. “The will of the people has spoken and we hope the city of Bothell honors that. Our message was we wanted a better deal, we will see what the future holds.”
“I’m very proud of the city’s employees in the way that we’ve conducted ourselves and provided factual information for voters to make an informed decision,” said Bothell City Manager Bob Stowe, noting that 1,100 unincorporated Snohomish County residents signed a petition to be annexed into Bothell. “I think it’s unfortunate that there was so much misinformation that had been circulated about the annexation.
“We’re glad the voters had the opportunity to vote,” he added. “This is something we’ve been working on for two years: to give an opportunity for those voters to choose their government.”
The Bothell Annex Yes! group noted that the Snohomish County Boundary Review Board approved the annexation as being in the best interests of the NEWBA area, and they hope the city decides to run the annexation again soon.
According to Stowe, citizens can petition for annexation again and the City Council would have to approve again to place it on the ballot.
He added that the NEWBA area — 5.6 square miles with a population of 22,283 residents — is still within the city’s Municipal Urban Growth Area (MUGA), and “at some point in time, it will be part of Bothell, at least in accordance with the state’s Growth Management Act.”
“The citizens in favor of annexation are obviously disappointed in the results of the recent election,” reads a statement from the “yes” group. “We feel that Snohomish Fire District 1 deliberately misled the voters and frightened them with a series of untrue statements about stations closing, medics responding from Kirkland and taxes. This confusion was the obvious difference in the campaign.”
A Snohomish Fire District 1 press release notes that it has made reductions in its administrative staff in a budget move to address a 12.3 percent reduction of property tax revenue for 2012.
Nine administrative positions have been eliminated through a combination of retirements and layoffs that take effect this month as the district seeks to offset a $3 million funding gap in 2012, according to Fire Chief Ed Widdis.
• As for the additional 6,000 residents who could be annexed within the Potential Annexation Area (PAA) in unincoporated King County, Stowe said the city continues to work out the interlocal agreements in that area.
