Representatives of King County and the cities of Seattle and Burien hope to agree by the end of August on a detailed proposal for annexing White Center and Boulevard Park in time to put the question to North Highline voters in autumn 2007.

The three entities all signed a "memorandum of understanding" that spells out how they will cooperate to solve the annexation of North Highline. If the process stays on its current schedule, the city councils of both Burien and Seattle could delineate this fall the specific parts of North Highline they want to declare as potential annexation areas. Representatives of each briefed the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council Aug. 3 and made it clear there are still big issues to work out.

Negotiators haven't agreed on whether North Highline ought to be annexed as a whole or divided between Seattle and Burien. If North Highline were divided, an unanswered question is where the dividing line would be.

At last week's meeting of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, negotiators from each local government briefed council members on the memorandum of understanding and remaining annexation issues.

Chip Davis, a planner from Burien, told the council the best financial option is for the annexing city to take all of North Highline rather than just a portion.

"The more assessed value you take, the closer you get to closing the gap," Davis said, referring to the fact North Highline costs more to serve than its tax base produces.

Kenny Pittman is the city of Seattle's representative in the annexation preparations. He agreed with Davis the best outcome from a financial standpoint would be for one of the cities to annex North Highline as one piece, Pittman said. But if that doesn't pan out, a boundary line will have to be drawn through North Highline, with Seattle taking the northern portion and Burien annexing the southern part.

Where to divide North Highline, if it comes to that, is still unresolved.

Surveys of North Highline residents shot down a theory held previously that people living closer to Seattle probably would prefer to join Seattle and those living farther south would rather be part of Burien.

Not true, said Elissa Benson from the King County Office of Management and Budget. Surveys taken since 1999 have shown consistently about 40 percent of North Highline residents say they want to join Burien, 40 percent favor Seattle and the rest support a variety of alternatives. Those numbers have remained about the same for the past seven years regardless how close the respondents live to either city, Benson said.

The main candidates for new city limits so far have been Southwest 112th and 116th streets, but 107th Street is being considered too.

Council President Steve Cox theorized the city of Seattle doesn't want to use 107th Street because it wants to go as far south as 116th so it can take in the North Highline Fire Station as well as the White Center Library.

Pittman did not dispute Cox's theory.

"One-hundred seventh (street) gives us heartburn," Pittman acknowledged.

Earlier this year, the Washington Legislature passed a new statute to help cover some of the costs of annexation. A city may use a portion of the state sales tax collected within its borders for up to 10 years.

Seattle is not eligible for such money but Burien is. However, Burien would have to annex at least 10,000 new residents to qualify.

If Southwest 116th Street turns out to be the boundary line, Burien would collect more than 10,000 new residents and could qualify to keep more of the state sales tax, Davis said.

Councilmember Ron Johnson expressed dismay that surveys and reports about annexation previously done for the North Highline Council have not been used in the discussions among the county, Seattle and Burien.

Some of that data has been disregarded because of flaws found in surveying, said Elissa Benson from the King County Office of Management and Budget. She cited a survey done for the North Highline Council that asked respondents if they thought it was reasonable to recommend annexing to Burien. But, Benson pointed out, the survey did not also ask respondents if they thought it reasonable to recommend annexation to Seattle. For a fair comparison, the question should have been asked with regard to both cities, she said.

Council member Johnson also questioned whether the meetings to negotiate the memorandum of understanding should be open to the public. But Benson said the meetings are not public because no legislative action is taken.

Pittman added that whatever comes out of those meetings is made public anyway, and that North Highline voters ultimately will have final say over their destiny.

The future of South Park's unincorporated "sliver by the river" came up too.

Kenny Pittman said the city of Seattle knows the logical option is for the sliver to be annexed by Seattle. However, annexation also means Seattle would assume financial responsibility for the South Park Bridge, Pittman said. That's a $93 million commitment because the bridge, which is owned by King County, must be replaced soon.

"It will be annexed into the city of Seattle," Pittman said. "It can go nowhere else."

The next meeting of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 21 at North Highline Fire Station, 1243 S.W. 112th St.

Tim St. Clair can be reached at tstclair@robinsonnews.com or 932-0300.