To the editor:
In these relentless economic times, who’d vote for a county tax increase short of county employees and seekers of a tax deduction or increased happiness by doing with less? A larger majority believes our county government does a lot of good around here and prefers it not be starved into irrelevance.
Who, but the county, has whole departments devoted to planning, health, solid waste, groundwater management, public works, law and justice and human services? Without attention to such priorities, will they get done?
The current expense fund supports most of the functions of local government. It’s the county’s chief operating fund and gets only 7 percent of your property taxes.
Meanwhile, 80 percent of said taxes goes to special- purpose districts such as fire departments, schools, the state and the library. For perspective, county fire districts collect more of your property taxes than the county expense fund.
In the county’s five-year financial forecast, today’s reduced service levels cannot be sustained. That building boom that sustained us in the past has retreated, leaving behind more citizens looking for services revenues that trail the cost of living increases by 13 percent since 2001.
To stabilize its finances, the county must cut an additional $2 million this year from programs and services needed by our community. Spending has already been reduced by $4.2 million since 2008, 60 people have been laid off, the commissioners have reduced their pay by over 10 percent, and 140 union employees now take unpaid furlough hours. Basic public safety and other essential services will be cut beyond today’s embarrassing levels.
This modest tax increase of 16 cents per $1,000, or $40 on a $250,000 house, merely moves us from last place among Washington’s 39 counties in tax revenue, to second from the bottom. It’s time to change course with the appropriately named, Prop. 1
For further info, check out:
What your county does: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLcGAzZUt-E.
Budget arguments: https://sites.google.com/site/yesis landcountyprop1/home.
Numbers and consequences: www.islandcounty.net/doc uments/Why Island County Needs Prop 1.pdf.
Frequently asked questions: http://www.islandcoun ty.net/pdf/faq.pdf.
Dean Enell
Langley
