As ECA events canceled, city council Tuesday to consider proposal for early sales tax distribution

The Edmonds City Council Tuesday night will consider a proposal to authorize an early distribution of Snohomish County sales tax rebates to the Edmonds Public Facilities District (PFD), which operates the Edmonds Center for the Arts.

According to the council agenda memo, the Edmonds PFD has “suffered a significant decrease in revenue” due to the COVID-19 outbreak.  This revenue decrease “is anticipated to continue into the foreseeable future, as upcoming events continue to be cancelled,” the memo states.

Due to Gov. Jay Inslee’s stay-at-home orders, the council will again be meeting remotely via Zoom, with the meeting broadcast both online and via cable TV Channel 21 (Comcast) and 39 (Frontier). The meeting is also shorter than usual, as the council is following a recent order from Inslee related to the state’s Open Public Meetings Act. This order limits the types of action that city councils can take during this time of what the governor considers to be reduced transparency.  Those actions must fall in one of two categories: 1) those that are necessary and routine city council actions; and 2) those that are necessary to respond to COVID-19.

There are two COVID-19 response items on Tuesday’s agenda — the sales tax rebate and the interview and appointment of a candidate to fill a vacancy on the PFD board.

Other agenda items include a presentation of first-quarter budget amendments and a discussion on how to handle council committee meetings under the governor’s stay-at-home orders.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 7. You can see the complete agenda here.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Real first and last names — as well as city of residence — are required for all commenters.
This is so we can verify your identity before approving your comment.

By commenting here you agree to abide by our Code of Conduct. Please read our code at the bottom of this page before commenting.