Council voices opposition to I-933

The city of Liberty Lake decided Tuesday to oppose Initiative 933 and even had a prewritten resolution in hand to make it official.

The City Council held a public hearing on the initiative, which is up for vote in November and would compensate property owners who feel they are losing money due to government laws such as zoning requirements.

City Attorney Stanley Schwartz was clear with his opinion on the measure.

“It is one of the most significant property laws I have ever read,” Schwartz said. “I think it is a poorly thought out law and results in frankly a windfall to various property owners.”

Members of the council examined studies that revealed the city could pay between $300,000 and $400,000 in administrative costs, and between $16 million and $26 million in claims under the new law, if enacted by voters.

“I find very little appealing about I-933,” said Councilman Brian Sayrs, who wrote a resolution before Tuesday’s meeting opposing the measure. “Property rights are important, it’s part of what being an American is all about. However, this measure goes way too far.”

Sayrs said an example of the initiative’s over-reach would be how it would affect the city’s junk car ordinance.

Because the ordinance, which prevents people from storing broken-down cars on their property, was enacted after 1996, anyone who is currently required by law to store their junk cars off their property could ask the city for compensation, or else the city would have to allow the junk cars to accumulate on the property.

“There will be a check written on the taxpayer’s dime in that situation,” Sayrs said. “There are legitimate concerns that need to be addressed in a deliberate manner, but this is a meat cleaver and it is far too much.”

The council voted on a resolution that opposed the initiative, saying it would be detrimental to the city and to taxpayers.

Also during Tuesday’s meeting, city finance director Arlene Fisher told the council of a planned census in the city’s newest annexation area in the northwest corner of town.

An official census will allow the city to collect more state tax funds for each citizen. City workers will be going from door to door in the area, asking for the number of people living in each home, as well as the residents’ names.

The census is scheduled to take place Oct. 28 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Citizens in that area will be notified by mail about the upcoming count.