Seattle will withdraw its interest in annexing North Highline if a bill designed to help that city offset the additional costs of providing services fails to win approval by the Legislature.

That was the message former Seattle Mayor Charles Royer delivered to North Highline residents Feb. 2 at a meeting on annexation White Center.

House Bill 1139 would give Seattle a greater share of local sales tax revenue as reimbursement for providing street repairs, youth programs, public parks, police and other local government services should it annex the unincorporated area.

But, Royer stressed, "There will be no choice for people of this community if House Bill 1139 doesn't pass." North Highline residents would become de facto residents of Burien.

Both Burien and Seattle have designated all of North Highline as a potential annexation area. Tukwila and SeaTac have designated neighboring communities in the unincorporated area for annexation.

The long-running annexation process is at a critical political point and the action right now is in Olympia in the form of HB 1139.

Last year's version of the bill was to eliminate a provision that excludes cities with 400,000 or more residents from collecting the sales tax revenue following an annexation.

The bill would allow the city of Seattle to collect a portion of local sales tax revenue if it annexes North Highline.

Burien would qualify to collect the sales tax revenue if it annexes an area with at least 10,000 residents, but Seattle would not under current state law.

But if HB 1139 passes, it would grant a larger percentage of sales tax revenues to Seattle than Burien would receive for annexing the same area.

What had started out as a low-key political rally to urge legislators to pass HB 1139 morphed into a debate among the audience over which city North Highline ought to join.

Royer urged people to save their arguments about the differences in service for the campaign to decide which city to join.

Some people at the meeting scoffed at the notion that Seattle would pull out of the annexation process.

The potential sales tax revenue would represent one-fifth of 1 percent of Seattle's budget and some doubted that amounted to enough money to change the city's mind.

But Royer said Seattle is serious because it already has budget problems.

Last fall, King County Executive Ron Sims encouraged Burien, Seattle, Tukwila and SeaTac to enter into a mediation process to resolve the conflicts over annexation of North Highline.

Seattle backed out of mediation in early January to wait for possible legislative action on HB 1139.

With the backing of the Burien council, Mayor Joan McGilton responded by informing the county that the city "is ready to enter into mediation immediately.

"Council members believe that resolving the PAA dispute sooner rather than later will provide certainty and direction to the process that has been stalled for so long."

The requirement that there be no unincorporated areas in Washington's urban areas comes from the state Growth Management Act.

The Legislature subsequently decided the state ought to reimburse any city that annexes an unincorporated area by allowing cities to collect a small portion of local sales tax revenue.

Seattle was excluded from collecting such reimbursements when legislators inserted language disqualifying any city with more than 400,000 residents.

Last year, then-Rep. Joe McDermott, D-West Seattle, whose 34th Legislature District includes both North Highline and Burien, sponsored a bill to eliminate the population requirement.

The House of Representatives approved it but a companion bill never got through the Senate.

Since then, McDermott was appointed to the Senate to complete the unfinished term of former Sen. Erik Poulsen, who resigned to work for public utility districts in Washington's rural areas.

HB 1139 was introduced for another try this year to eliminate the exclusion of Seattle. With McDermott gone to the Senate, the sponsor this year is Rep. Bob Hasegawa, D-Tukwila. His 11th Legislative District includes the eastern half of North Highline.