On busy a night Feb. 14, Kenmore City Council reviewed a potential car tab tax, plans for a police review and beefed up local prostitution laws.

While they took no action, councilmembers once again debated the idea of a transportation benefit district — essentially, a new taxing district — that would help support road projects in the city.

Speaking before council, City Engineer Ron Loewen said changes in state law now allow dollars collected by benefit districts to fund both infrastructure maintenance, as well as new construction or capital improvement projects.

Prior to last year, district dollars could only to go new construction. While he did not make any recommendation regarding formation of a district, Loewen said the change was an important one. With that switch and a few other factors in mind, Loewen said Kenmore could apply district dollars to the upkeep and improvement of virtually every major road in the city, from State Route 522 to Simonds Road to Juanita Drive Northeast.

Benefit districts can collect dollars in a number of ways: license tab fees that can reach $100 per vehicle; a sales and use tax of up to .02 percent; a property tax; and, road tolls.

In the past, Kenmore City Council discussions seemed mostly to focus on the idea of a tab fee of $20 per vehicle. If not exceeding $20, tab fees can be imposed without a vote of the general public.

According to figures provided by Loewen, such a tax would raise about $285,000 a year in Kenmore. There currently are 14,260 cars licensed to Kenmore residents. Assuming that number did not change, the tab fee would raise about $2.8 million over the next 10 years. Loewen contended that the city’s other sources of infrastructure dollars — everything from transportation impact fees paid by developers to gas taxes — are falling or remaining static.

Again, while they did not totally dismiss formation of a benefit district, council did not take any action on the idea, either. Deputy Mayor Milton Curtis was the first to argue now is not the time to impose new taxes. He was not the last.

Councilman Alan Van Ness said he was in favor of user fees, which is how several officials described the tab tax. But he also said even fees below the $20 mark should go to a vote of the public.

“And I don’t think we ought to ask them anything right now,” Van Ness said.

In other actions:

• As expected, council voted to go forward with a $40,000 review of its contract for police services with the King County Sheriff’s Office. Council awarded the contract for the study to Matrix Consulting of California. A Matrix representative said the work, which will take about 12 weeks, would begin almost immediately.

Assistant City Manager Nancy Ousley said that over the last few years, Kenmore has reviewed nearly all of its service contracts. She said the police contract is by far the largest and is simply the next in line.

According to figures released by the city previously, Kenmore paid King County $2.9 million for police protection last year. As have other officials in the past, Ousley emphasized the review was not triggered by any dissatisfaction with the city’s police protection.

According to Matrix’s preliminary proposal, the policing study will look at eight key questions, including: Is there a need for all the services being currently provided? Are there needed services that aren’t being provided? Are there feasible alternatives to contracting with the county such as contracting with a neighboring city? What are the comparative costs?

Kenmore Police Chief Cliff Sether has supported the review. He said King County contracts with numerous cities for police services and such studies have become commonplace. Given the amount of money spent on policing, Sether added that from the point of view of the contract cities, such studies “just make sense.”

• Partly in response to allegations of misconduct by baristas at a local coffee drive-through, council adopted the Washington state code regarding what constitutes prostitution and prohibited sexual conduct.

Under Kenmore’s previous codes, Sether said police had trouble prosecuting persons who might otherwise be seen as violating sexual conduct laws. He said state codes spell out more clearly what constitutes illegal sexual conduct and makes going after alleged offenders that much easier.

Councilman Bob Hensel later added the new rules allow the city to be more aggressive in prosecuting alleged sex-related crimes at espresso stands and elsewhere.

Following some publicity over an incident in which a customer claimed a female barista exposed herself, the owner of the Best Friend coffee shop on Bothell Way stated he was moving away from using bikini or lingerie-clad baristas. The stand now advertises itself as family-friendly.

According to a spokesperson for King County, the alleged incident at the stand was not pursued because, while he filed an initial police report, the customer involved declined to cooperate with prosecutors.