The City Charter Crisis
Mayor R.K. Nichols warns that the city's legal authority has been gutted by the new state constitution.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Since the day North Yakima was incorporated by the legislature, the city charter has been superseded by the state constitution as the supreme law of the land. As a result, many of the powers granted to our city are inconsistent with the constitution and have become void. The power to light the streets, construct wells, and construct systems of sewerage—every grant of power which requires the taxing power of the city—has been abrogated. To do away with these difficulties and inconsistencies, I recommend that the city of North Yakima reorganize under the general municipal corporation act of 1890 as a city of the third class. If the present indebtedness exceeds the constitutional limit, every warrant ordered drawn by the city council is in direct violation of the state constitution.
“The results of these changes in the laws and form of government are such, I think, as to confuse the mind of a legal specialist.”
Municipal budget crises and the limits of local taxing authority remain a central friction point in Washington politics. Nichols’ struggle to reconcile a growing town with a rigid state constitution reflects the ongoing tension between local home rule and state-level mandates in contemporary Yakima.
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