Prosser council against I-1033

PROSSER -- After a work session and a comment period, the Prosser City Council decided to unanimously adopt a resolution opposing Initiative 1033 on Tuesday. The initiative will appear on the November statewide ballot.

The initiative would limit annual growth of the city's general fund to the rate of inflation, plus the city's annual rate of population growth. Any excess revenues would be placed into a reserve account that would reduce future tax levies by the amount of the excess revenue collected by the city.

Prosser staff estimate that for the owner of a $200,000 home in Prosser, taxes would be reduced an estimated $18 in the first year the initiative is implemented and would then decrease by about $45 annually. Voter-supported revenues are exempt from the initiative.

Prosser budgeted $3.5 million in operational revenue this year, which is projected to grow to $4.7 million by 2015. With the initiative in place, that revenue would instead total around $4.2 million.

In a news release, Mayor Paul Warden said the long-term effect of the initiative could be permanent cuts in city services. The only way to avoid that would to change the structure of government through voter approval, or to seek voter approval each year for the city's revenue above the initiative limit.