To the editor:
If we had a local TV station around, even that last episode of “The Amazing Race” (won by Meghan and Cheyne, if you missed it), would be out-viewered by the numbers game being waged at the county.
Locally, we have reality TV at it’s finest — an ever-changing cast of locals taking turns to play Judge Judy for their allotted two minutes of lambasting the commissioners for cutting funding to their pet causes. Like any rivalry, the mood is set in the parking lot where cheerleaders wave signs and banners to incite their fans.
Sheriff Mark Brown has his posse of outraged victims feeling deserted in their battle against the bad guys, the Beach Watchers feel betrayed in their shorelines epic and even the driving-while-impaired group can’t contain that havoc behind the wheel. The elected department heads warn of failed legal mandates with phrases like cut to the bone, minuscule per-capita funding and a return to the Dark Ages.
For a trip to the mike, orators were awarded a round of applause for chastising the commissioners. Surprisingly, even those half a dozen souls who proposed the unthinkable (a levy lift), earned an ovation. Could it be that Island County is ready to bite the bullet, do the responsible thing and adequately fund themselves to deliver on the high quality of life that gets demanded around here?
Washington state has 39 counties with levy rates averaging $9.41 per $1,000. We’re anchored at number 38 with our $6.86, by following a doomed fiscal policy of funding government by growth in residential construction for a few decades now.
According to the experts, the costs of providing infrastructure and services to a new house far exceeds the one-time boost in sales tax and permit fees that accompany its initial construction. Yet such is the business plan inherited by our current commissioners. It’s like digging a hole to escape the tide, which even some of previous “other party” commissioners came to realize as a doomed fiscal policy before they sailed off.
Not surprising, every city or county around here (save three), charges mitigation fees to balance the books and fairly pass costs on to the residential growth that necessitates these costs. They’ve followed this prudent practice for more than 15 years, while we continue to subsidize growth despite the havoc it wreaks upon our budget. It’s worth noting that even this testimony was awarded an applause.
Dean Enell
Langley
