Construction Permits Fall, So Does Yakima's Budget

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Story Published: Mar 12, 2009 at 5:05 PM PST

By Sade Malloy

Yakima -- Yakima's housing market tends to buck the national trend construction, was booming up until last year. Now as construction permits fall so does Yakima's budget. Action News crunches the numbers to show just how important new construction is.

Yakima's housing market bucked the trends for years, last Spring things were going great. Zach Sloan, Aztech Design(file) says, "We got six more lots to do over on 80th and we got 50,60 lots to put on Ahtanum."

New permit revenues are taking a nose dive, it's not just people in the housing industry feeling the pinch, the city of Yakima is too.
"Do you think locals realize how much money we get out of new construction?"
"Probably most people don't even think about it," says Bruce Benson, Community & Economic Development.

Nearly 1.4 percent of city's revenue comes from licensing and permits that adds up to almost a million dollars last year. But this year that number is expected to drop by more than $175,000. Bruce Benson says, "If it's a new businesses it's gong to be sales tax, property tax that's why it's important to the community."

Action News pulled the numbers on permits for the last four years. Back in January of 2006 the city issued three permits for new housing and commercial development that brought in nearly $4,000. A dozen permits were issued in 2007 and 22 in 2008 to the tune of $32,000, but the bottom dropped out in January of this year. Five construction permits were issued in January, the city is trying to be optimistic. Neil McClure, Yakima city councilman says, "We've seen the bubble pop but I don't think we're gonna see a crash."

The numbers show nearly $15,000 less revenue, just one slice of the budget crunch the city is now facing.

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