Tacoma City Council
Study Session
Noon, Tuesday, March 16, 2004
Room 16
Tacoma Municipal Building North
728 St. Helens Ave.

Highway improvements
Washington State Department of Transportation Project Engineer Nancy Boyd will present an overview of the Tacoma/Pierce County High Occupancy Vehicle Program. The overview will include visuals of new freeway improvements, the project completion schedule, improvements to the traffic management system, new and reconfigured interchanges and completion of the State Route 16 Scott Pierson multiuse trail. The public may attend, but the council will not take public comment. CityPost – Channel 85 on Click!, Channel 77 on Comcast – will air the audio portion of the study session live.

Tacoma City Council
Regular Meeting
5 p.m., Tuesday, March 16, 2004
Council Chambers
Tacoma Municipal Building
747 Market St.

Reduced pet license fees for disabled
The City Council approved an ordinance that increased Tacoma’s pet license fees to match Pierce County fees. The council will take public comment and is scheduled to vote on reducing pet license fees for individuals with a permanent disability. The Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County provides domestic animal control services to Tacoma. If approved, the new fees would give individuals with permanent disabilities the same discount as senior adults. The proposed fees are:

– Altered cats: $5

– Altered dogs: $10

– Unaltered dogs or cats: $30

Convention Center marketing
The City Council will consider an addendum to the city’s contract with the Tacoma-Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) that would provide an additional $100,000 for the organization’s marketing budget. The CVB, a non-profit organization, serves the City through booking conventions, tourism development and film commission activities. CVB will use the additional city funds to solicit convention and conference bookings for the new Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center. The 2003-2004 biennial budget already approved $700,000 for citywide culture and tourism marketing as well as Convention Center marketing over the two-year period. If approved, the additional $100,000 from the Convention Center’s budget would fund specific Convention Center marketing activities for this year. The council will take public comment on the measure.

Council views CLID bonds
Tacoma may sell approximately $1 million worth of Consolidated Local Improvement District (CLID) bonds to complete long-term financing of 15 sanitary sewer and paving CLID projects throughout the city. The council will take public comment and is scheduled to vote on the ordinance authorizing the sale. Selling CLID bonds is the final step in a two-part financing process. Project construction was initially funded with draws on a line of credit from Bank of America. The proceeds from the bond sale are used to pay down the line of credit to free up funds for future projects.

City Council workshop
The council will conduct the first in a series of four monthly workshops covering the city’s finances and budget. The workshop will be held March 17, at 4:30 p.m., in Room 16 of Tacoma Municipal Building North. The session is open to the public, but no comment will be taken.