Contact us

Jayme Gordon
Executive Director

By Phone:
(253)  845-2973

By E-mail
jaymeg@forevergreencouncil.org

Office Hours

Monday-Friday
8:00 a.m. to 4:30  p.m.

Board  Meetings
    Our noon meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month, except in August.
 

Photo by Kirk Kirkland

Funding Strategy

Phase I: A penny for Pierce County trails and open space. 

Trail building costs between a half million to a million dollars per mile.  Engineering, land acquistion and planning add to the construction costs.  Our road system was built with dedicated funds collected at the gas pump.  The recent improvements to Pierce County Parks and the accreditation of Point Defiance Zoo and Northwest Trek were made possible through a county-wide sales tax passed by voters in 1999. 

If we are to join all the communities in our county, addition funding is needed to complete the 100-mile system of trails. Dedicated funds are needed to match grants and provide for long-term trail maintenance.

With few notable exceptions like Milton, most small towns under 15,000 people have been unable to fund the missing links and many sections of trail have remained incomplete.  Even large cities like Tacoma employ only a part-time trail coordinator.  These independent efforts have resulted in about 1.5 miles of trail constructed each year over the last 20 years.  Dedicated funding and a trail office providing technical services could resolve these impediments to creating a county-wide trail system.

Phase II                  State legislative authority

In 2007 ForverGreen in cooperation with MetroParks Tacoma and the Pierce County Council asked the state legislature for authority to raise the county sales tax by 1/10 of 1% to build trails, buy open space and maintain trails and parks.   The Senate held a hearing.

Between $9 and $12 million would be collected annually with the funding distributed as follows:

• Provide 40% to County Parks
• Provide 30% to MetroParks
• Provide 20% for grants to cities and towns 
• Provide 10% for open space funding

The distribution of grants to cities and towns will be the responsibility of seven elected officials -- appointed by the Pierce County Regional Council.  These officials will decide on grant guidlines and establish priorities among conflicting grants. 

Three officials will represent cities over 15,000 people. Three officials will represent small towns and communities.  One official will represent Metropolitan Park boards.

                                Next steps:

Before a sales tax of 0.1 of 1% can be collected in Pierce County,
these steps must be completed:

• Authorized by state legislature
• Placed on the county ballot by the Pierce County Council
• Organization of a county-wide election campaign
• Approval from 51% of Pierce County's voters
  

Photo by Kirk Kirkland

          Copyright 2006, by ForeverGreen Council