CITY OF SEATTLE

ORDINANCE __________________

COUNCIL BILL __________________

AN ORDINANCE relating to the 2008 Parks and Green Spaces Levy; deleting the Seattle Asian Art Museum project from the Citywide Parks Owned Cultural Facilities SubCategory of the Development Category; adding new major maintenance projects in the Neighborhood Parks and Playgrounds Subcategory of the Development Category; increasing appropriations to the Department of Parks and Recreation in the 2014 Adopted Budget; and amending the 2014-2019 Adopted Capital Improvement Program; all by a three-fourths vote of the City Council.

WHEREAS, Ordinance 122749 authorized a proposition to be submitted to Seattle's voters that would levy for up to six years regular property taxes in excess of the limitation on levies in Chapter 84.55 RCW for the purposes of acquiring, developing, or restoring parks, recreation facilities, cultural facilities, green spaces, playfields, trails, community gardens and shoreline areas; and

WHEREAS, the proposed 2008 Parks and Green Spaces Levy (Parks Levy) was approved by Seattle voters on November 4, 2008; and

WHEREAS, the Parks Levy program created four major funding categories for levy funds: 1) Acquisitions; 2) Development; 3) Environment; and 4) Opportunity Fund; and

WHEREAS, Ordinance 122749 established a Parks and Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee (Oversight Committee) with responsibilities including advising upon expenditures and allocations for the following year, making recommendations on the implementation of particular projects and any reallocations, adopting evaluation criteria and recommending Opportunity Fund awards to the Superintendent of the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR), the Mayor and the City Council; and

WHEREAS, the Parks Levy includes $9,000,000 in the City-Wide Parks Owned Cultural Facilities Subcategory of the Development Category to support the renovation of the Seattle Asian Art Museum; and

WHEREAS, the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), which operates this Cityowned facility, was to undertake fund-raising for the balance of the funding needed for the renovation; and

WHEREAS, due to the economic recession of the past five years, SAM has not undertaken a capital campaign to raise funds for the project and will not be in position to do so until approximately 2017; and

WHEREAS, on September 23, 2013, the Superintendent of DPR briefed the Oversight Committee on a recommendation to reprogram the Seattle Asian Art Museum dollars to fund major maintenance projects that otherwise would be undertaken in 2015-2017; and

WHEREAS, the recommended major maintenance projects are not presently included in the Parks and Green Spaces Levy; and

WHEREAS, Ordinance 122749 provides that City Council may delete projects and substitute different projects with a threefourths vote after considering recommendations made by the Oversight Committee; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF SEATTLE AS FOLLOWS:

Section 1. Pursuant to a recommendation from the Superintendent of the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation and the City Budget Office, the Seattle Asian Art Museum renovation project is deleted from the 2008 Parks Levy Fund Citywide Parks Owned Cultural Facilities Sub-Category of the Development Category and Attachment A to Ordinance 122749 is amended to include the following 12 high-priority major maintenance projects in the Neighborhood Parks and Playgrounds Subcategory of the Development Category, as further described in Attachment 1 to this ordinance:

Section 2. In order to pay for necessary capital costs and expenses incurred, or to be incurred, but for which insufficient appropriations were made due to causes that could not reasonably have been foreseen at the time the 2014 budget was adopted, the appropriation for the following item in the 2014 Adopted Budget and the 2014-2019 Adopted Capital Improvement Program is increased from the funds shown, as follows:

Section 3. This ordinance shall take effect and be in force 30 days after its approval by the Mayor, but if not approved and returned by the Mayor within ten days after presentation, it shall take effect as provided by Seattle Municipal Code Section 1.04.020.

Passed by the City Council the ____ day of ________________________, 2014, and signed by me in open session in authentication of its passage this

_____ day of ___________________, 2014.

_________________________________

President __________of the City Council

Approved by me this ____ day of _____________________, 2014.

_________________________________

Edward B. Murray, Mayor

Filed by me this ____ day of __________________________, 2014.

____________________________________

Monica Martinez Simmons, City Clerk

(Seal)

Attachment 1: Major Maintenance Projects for the Development Category of the Parks and Green Spaces Levy

Gerald Asp DPR 2008 Levy Art Museum Funds 2014 ORD June 26, 2014 Version # 5