At the Oct. 23 Study Session meeting, the Airway Heights City Council discussed raising the property taxes by 1 percent in the city.
“This is a minimal way to stay up with the inflation,” Mayor Kevin Richey said. “Cities that do not raise the taxes, like Spokane, are now in a budget crisis.”
The city did not raise the taxes last year due to asking the citizens for the recreation center funds.
The City Council will officially vote on raising the 1 percent at the next meeting, but the board voted unanimously in favor.
Derrick Braaten, the development services director, informed the council of what the Planning Commission discussed at their meeting about upcoming rezones.
The one most discussed was for about 20 acres of land located in the northwest quadrant of Airway Heights. The properties are proposed to go from R-1, single-family residential, to R-3, to accommodate the alternative housing site for the residents located south of Highway 2 and within Fairchild’s accident potential zone (APZ).
“This is a pilot project,” Braaten said. “It is a state sanction project. It is to allow for more density and residential housing.”
The council heard about a budget change to utilize unused funds to allow a social planner in the city for the planning department. The same funds for the position will be budgeted for 2018.
Grace Pohl can be reached at grace@cheneyfreepress.com.
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