What's an MPD and why is one needed?

What is it?
An MPD is a "junior taxing district" funded by property tax.
According to state law as amended in 2002 an MPD can now be formed even by unincorporated areas like Kingston.

Why did we need an MPD?
The Foundation Board considered an MPD essential for operations and maintenance of the replacement building.  There are other sources of capital funds - state and federal grants, state and federal appropriations, private foundation grants, individual and corporate donations - but few sources of operating money.
Additionally, sources of capital funds are requiring that we show we have the resources to maintain the facility.
Read on to see the range operating funds sources that are not available for this project.

Why not use some other funding source?
1) County Parks budget outlook, along with the rest of the County budget, is pretty grim. They're spending less and less in Kingston (for example, no funds are provided for a portable toilet or maintenance at Arness Park now).
2) We have no other taxing authority, as an unincorporated area. The Port of Kingston does have taxing authority, but its mission is maintenance of the waterfront and contributing to economic development of the Port District.
3) Rents and building-use fees cannot alone support the operation and maintenance of the new facility, or it will not be accessible for those who need to use its services and amenities.

Who's in it?

The Board of the Village Green Foundation looked hard at who uses the present facility.  People using the community center, library, and senior center live as far away as Hansville, Indianola, and Eglon. However, those communities have multi-use facilities close at hand, and Hansville and Eglon have easy access to the Little Boston library. 

So our district is limited to most of the Kingston zip code except for Eglon, plus Miller Bay Estates, which actually has a Poulsbo zip code.

Why Miller Bay Estates?
Our thinking about Miller Bay estates was guided by the expanded service reach of the replacement facility. An important part of the new building's features will be the multi-purpose space that will be a permanent home for our Boys & Girls Club, but which will be usable by all community members during non-Boys & Girls Club hours.

Miller Bay Estates kids go to Kingston schools. That's important in part because of the prominence of our Boys & Girls club as a feature of the new facility, and the Kingston bus routes will figure in kids being transported to the Boys & Girls Club after school.

How much will it cost?
The MPD that the voters passed on August 17 2010 is authorized to levy up to 75 cents per thousand dollars of assessed valuation.

But that's not what we want: Our MPD will be a source of revenue to make the building fees and rentals affordable, and by our calculation that would take up to 15 cents per thousand. For the average home value in Kingston, that would amount to $50 per year. That 15 cents per thousand will guide the budget that the MPD Commissioners submit late in 2011 for 2012.

How will you guarantee that the cost won't be more?
You could have both direct and indirect roles in keeping the cost low.

The MPD is governed by five commissioners, who have to live within the District boundaries. They first five commissioners were elected on the same ballot as the approval of the District itself. Those five people are your indirect influence: You only elect commissioners who will exercise responsible cost management and will commit to keeping the District budget reasonable. 

That's not the only way of guaranteeing that the MPD doesn't tax and spend more than intended. You could have direct influence over that if you were elected to be one of the five Commissioners yourself! There will be one commissioner position on the ballot again in 2011, for a six-year term that starts 1/1/12. The other four positions will be up for election in 2014 and 2016. Once those elections are held, each commissioner is elected to serve a six year term.

To read more about what an MPD can do, go to this link:

RCW 35.61

What impact will the MPD have on the Fire District?
How about the Library District?

If the County ever reached the State limit of $5.90 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation in property tax, there's a process called pro-ration that would start rolling the tax back. Our County assessor assures us that such an event is very unlikely in Kitsap County. In the unlikely event it did happen, all Metro Park District funding would be rolled back before either the Fire District or the Library District would lose funding.