Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

AGO 1992 NO. 17 >

1.  RCW 19.27.097 provides that an applicant for a building permit must provide evidence of an adequate supply of potable water.  The authority to make this determination is the local agency that issues building permits.  2.  The Legislature has authorized the Board of Health to establish, and the Department of Health to enforce, a comprehensive regulatory scheme for public water systems. In determining whether water to be supplied from a public water system constitutes an adequate water supply for purposes of RCW 19.27.097, the local agency issuing building permits must apply the standards set by the Board of Health.  3.  If water is not supplied from a public water system, the local agency issuing building permits has more discretion to determine if the water supply is adequate for purposes of RCW 19.27.097.  At a minimum, there must be sufficient quality and quantity of water for the intended purpose of the building.

AGO 1991 NO. 17 >

Charter counties, charter cities, code cities and municipal corporations, in the exercise of proprietary functions, have broad legislative power that empowers them to self-fund their employee health and welfare benefits.  Other municipal corporations have only the powers expressly granted by the Legislature or necessarily or fairly implied in or incident to the powers expressly granted.  These municipal corporations do not have the authority to self-fund their employees' health and welfare benefits.

AGO 1996 NO. 17 >

1.  Federally-owned roads which are closed to the general public are not "county roads" and a non-charter county therefore lacks authority to maintain such roads with state and county funds. 2.  A county has authority, if it chooses, to set and enforce traffic signals on federally-owned roads within the county, except where superseded by federal law; however, the county has no obligation to set and enforce traffic signals on such roads because they are not "county roads" as defined in state law. 3.  A county may contract with an agency of the United States to maintain federally-owned roads within the county, or to set and enforce traffic controls for such roads, in return for payment by the federal agency of the costs incurred by the county in performing such services. 4.  A county may use "county road property tax revenues" as defined in statute, after diverting them to the current expense fund pursuant to law, for setting and enforcing traffic controls on federally-owned roads within the county. 5.  For purposes of allocating the state motor vehicle fuel tax under RCW 46.68.120, .122, and .124, federally-owned roads in a county which are closed to the general public are not "county roads" and should not be considered in making the allocation. 6.  A county which deposited revenues from the county road property tax levy into its current expense fund to pay the expenses related to setting and enforcing traffic controls on federally-owned roads within the county would not thereby lose its eligibility to receive state funding under such statutes as RCW 36.79.140.

AGO 1971 NO. 17 >

(1) The provisions of chapter 58.17 RCW, relating to plats and subdivisions, are applicable to mobile home parks where the ownership of an entire parcel remains in the developer or operator of the park, but the parcel is divided into five or more lots or sites for the purpose of renting the same to mobile home owners on a month-to-month basis. (2) The provisions of chapter 58.17 RCW, relating to plats and subdivisions, are also applicable where a developer or operator retains ownership of an entire parcel of land, but divides the same into five or more lots or sites for the purpose of renting the same on a nightly or weekly basis to the owners of campers, trailers, and such other mobile recreational and camping vehicles.

AGO 1983 NO. 17 >

Exercising the authority granted to it by RCW 39.84.040 a municipality, in creating a public corporation in connection with the issuance of industrial development revenue bonds under chapter 39.84 RCW, may provide in the ordinance establishing the corporation that one or more positions on its board of directors shall be filled by a member (or members) of its governing body serving ex officio; however, if the number of members of the governing body who are to serve, ex officio, on the board of directors of corporations is less than the total number of members of the governing body, the ordinance should also, itself, state the criteria for determining which members of the governing body are also to serve as directors of the corporation.

AGO 2006 NO. 18 >

1. If a city has chosen not to impose the optional sales and use tax authorized by RCW 82.14.030(2), and the county in which the city is located has chosen to impose the same tax, the revenue from the tax would go to the county.2. If a city chooses to impose a local real estate excise tax authorized by RCW 82.46.010 in lieu of the optional sales and use tax authorized by RCW 82.14.030(2), the city may not arrange for the county to continue to pay the city a portion of the revenue from the optional sales and use tax, unless the city and county have entered into a local service agreement under RCW 36.115.

AGO 1973 NO. 18 >

(1) No county of any class may donate a portion of its federal revenue sharing entitlement under Public Law 92-512 (the state and local fiscal assistance act of 1972) to a private nonprofit senior citizens' center. (2) A county not operating under a home rule charter may not donate a portion of its entitlement under this federal act to a fire protection district for the purchase of an ambulance by such district.

AGO 1975 NO. 18 >

There is a sufficient basis in Article XI, § 11 of the Washington constitution for upholding a properly drawn ordinance by which a county, including one which has not adopted a home rule charter pursuant to Article XI, § 4 of the constitution, would establish day care services for the children of working mothers who are residents thereof; the appropriate tests for determining the validity of such an ordinance are (1) whether the enactment falls within the range of concerns which the courts have recognized as acceptable areas for the exercise of the police power and (2) whether the measure represents a reasonable method of reaching an objective of that power.

AGO 1978 NO. 18 >

A county which has heretofore imposed a local sales and use tax for public transportation under the provisions of (former) RCW 82.14.047, with voter approval, may now reduce the rate of that tax while at the same time reserving the right and authority again to increase the tax at a later date, without further voter approval, so long as the increased tax does not exceed the rate originally approved by the voters.

AGLO 1974 NO. 18 >

The representative of a county who is to be appointed to the thermal power plant site evaluation council under RCW 80.50.030(4) whenever an application for a proposed thermal power plant site within the county is filed with the council is required to be a member of the legislative authority of the county.