The tension was high in the City Council chambers at the March 20 meeting as the council considered Mayor Jim Ferrell’s recommendation to pass a 7.75-percent tax on water and sewer utilities over Lakehaven Water and Sewer District’s objections. And it got worse as city staff spent almost an hour re-presenting much of Ferrell’s justification for the increase as they had at the March 6 council meeting. One resident interrupted to say he was 74 years old and it was getting late. The crowd wanted its say and was not happy with the delay. Police estimated 176 people packed into the council chambers, with several more in two overflow rooms.

There was also a motion to approve removing the cap on the admissions tax, which would generate an additional $218,000, but it drew almost no concern from residents and passed with all seven votes. This was a crowd focused on the utility tax, as many described themselves as older, on a fixed income and adamantly opposed to the tax increase, which passed 5-2. They felt the admissions tax was a choice but that utilities were a necessity that they couldn’t do without.

Only former council member Jeanne Burbidge favored the utility tax.

Some of the residents were angry that the council was not living within its budget; others felt misled as the proposal seemed to come as a surprise. While the council did discuss the possibility of a tax increase in 2016, the public is right to feel a little misled. During the 2017 election, Ferrell and a majority of the City Council candidates — Martin Moore, Hoang Tran, Jesse Johnson and Susan Honda — had all said they were opposed to a utility tax increase. Residents may have felt justified in believing their elected officials would keep their commitment for longer than a few months. In the end, only Honda and Johnson kept their pledge and voted no. To some City Hall watchers, the switch was not a surprise and even cynically expected.

Unless you keep very close track of city politics, you might not have known that the end result of the mayor-council retreat discussion about a sustainable revenue stream actually signaled that a tax increase was coming.

To many residents seeing the first reading March 6 and a vote scheduled for March 20 seemed a little hasty. Also, the mayor and council didn’t start making their case for the increase until the March 6 meeting.

It was actually Lakehaven officials who sought to notify residents as they sent out post cards and phone calls urging attendance.

As the testimony continued and the tension increased, both Ferrell and Councilman Mark Koppang surprisingly lectured the crowd. Ferrell may have been worried that the vote was slipping away, and Koppang later acknowledged he was feeling the pressure to catch a plane that evening and his comments may not have been as helpful to everyone as they could have been. Neither lecture was well received. And Ferrell did have reason to worry about the vote. At one point the dynamics were so strained, council member Dini Duclos, a tax-increase supporter, appeared willing to support tabling the motion for further study, but Koppang interceded, and the moment was lost.

Behind the scenes, there had been a lot more political maneuvering than the public knew. Lakehaven Water and Sewer District had tried to engage the city in negotiations to avoid taking legal action. They had even opened the door to the possibility of buying the city’s dog park next door to their property. Lakehaven felt the price would likely pay most of the budget shortage the city complained about. The city was not interested in that proposal.

Lakehaven commissioners did confirm that if the city moves ahead to implement the tax, they will file a lawsuit to stop them, which may delay the city from its financial goal.

At the conclusion of the meeting, council members Moore, Koppang, Tran, Duclos and Lydia Assefa-Dawson voted for the utility tax increase. Several in the crowd felt the mayor and council already had their minds made up and weren’t even listening to them. Since the vote was the same as the first reading, that is not an unreasonable conclusion. They have likely had their minds made up since the council retreat or before.

March 22, Ferrell contacted Lakehaven officials to schedule a meeting, which temporarily provided hope that a compromise was still possible. Later the same day, however, he changed his mind and canceled the meeting. Insiders questioned why Ferrell would do that. Some thought it might have been an impulsive move, another thought possibly fear of a referendum petition. Ferrell’s office says there were too many moving parts to the issue to reopen discussions as two other utilities — Highline Water and Midway Sewer District — may also be involved.

We are likely see a lawsuit between our city government and our utility district.

I retain my conclusion that the city created this crisis with its spending habits over the last few years. This tax increase and the lawsuit that will follow did not have to happen and will waste more taxpayer money on legal fees.

Over 200 people left the meeting feeling their city government had not listened to them. For the past several months there has been a low rumbling with some residents interested in returning the council-manager form of government. Will this meeting increase attention on that? It certainly will provide an issue to candidates who are already testing the waters for next year’s council races.

But there may also be another twist in this case as Federal Way resident Jack Sharlock has filed the paperwork to try and force a referendum and public vote on imposing a utility tax. He and his supporters have 30 days to collect the signatures of over 7,000 Federal Way registered voters. That is a surprisingly short period of time to meet a high threshold. But we may not have heard the last of this tax increase after all.

Federal Way resident Bob Roegner is a former mayor of Auburn and retired public official. He can be reached at bjroegner@comcast.net.