The Sammamish Review and three sister publications ceases operations Feb. 24.
The Sammamish Review will cease operations Feb. 24.
So will the Issaquah Press, SnoValley Star (Snoqualmie) and the Newcastle News. All are part of the Issaquah Press Group, which in turn is owned by The Seattle Times.
The Group made the announcement today.
Commentary
Mayor Don Gerend
As the Sammamish City Council heads into its retreat tomorrow evening, there is one topic that will get short shrift: the City’s finances.
In Monday’s Sammamish Comment post, I outlined the City’s own 2017-2018 budget that has a 73% decline in its cash balance from the end of 2016 to the end 0f 2018.
The budget has a 30-minute allocation on the retreat agenda. It’s not enough, and the City Council has been ducking the budget ramifications for the last two years.
The City faces being out of cash in 2019 at the current spend rate. (See Operations vs Capital Funds, below.) Action needs to be taken this year. It’s been put off yet again.
There is simply no other way to put it: the City Council and Administration have been irresponsible to not face up to the coming budget realities sooner.
Although there may be some technical obstacles to overcome, the city is planning to livestream the City Council retreat this weekend. If everything works, residents will be able to watch the proceedings from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 20, and from 7:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Jan. 21.
To watch the livestream, go to www.sammamish.us, click on the “news and events” tab, and then select “TV 21.” The retreat is being held at the Murano Hotel, 1320 Broadway Plaza, in Tacoma.
Sammamish will live stream its retreat in Tacoma this weekend.
Details have yet to be announced, including hours and days. The link will be https://www.sammamish.us, click on the “news and events” tab, and then select “TV 21.”
Christie Malchow
The retreat begins Thursday night at 6pm with a Council dinner–it’s unclear if this informal session will be part of the live streaming, although Council business will inevitably be discussed.
The meat of the retreat is all day Friday and Saturday morning.
“I think this is a huge win,” said Council Member Christie Malchow, who proposed live streaming.
Sammamish cash coffers will decline by 73% during the next two years, from $62m to $17m, as expenditures exceed revenues in the 2017-18 budget.
With major road projects being considered, and even without them, new taxes and/or debt seems to be inevitable.
The City Council last year approved the budget without any new taxes or debt, going into this year’s Council elections in November.
But forgoing new revenue means a burst of new taxes seems likely to stave off the so-called cross-over point when the City looks at a cash deficit. The current projection is that the crossover point will occur in 2020, according to the finance section in the Council packet, which may be found here.
Finances will be a part of the Council’s annual retreat, which begins Thursday night and continues through noon Saturday at the Murano Hotel in Tacoma. Finances are slated for discussion Saturday morning.
King County sued Sammamish Jan. 3 over a determination by the City that the County’s clearing and grading permit application for development of Section 2B of the East Lake Sammamish Trail is incomplete.
The County asks King County Superior Court for a declaratory judgment that the application is complete and vested to rules in place Nov. 16. Companion permit applications were deemed complete then by the City. The County also asks for unspecified damages.
This is the latest in long-running disputes between the County, City and residents along the trail.
Sammamish Comment 