SAN JUAN ISLANDER EDITORIAL: What kind of community are you willing to pay for?

SAN JUAN ISLANDER EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL: What kind of community are you willing to pay for?

posted 10/18/2009
We face a choice which affects all of us in our bank accounts and more importantly in the type of community we choose to live in. We can step up and vote for the county levy and pay an average of $5 more per month to keep parks open, to provide for Public Health services, to have senior service coordinators at the centers, to sustain the 4-H program. Or we can vote no and watch as our social network disintegrates.

Anyone could foresee the inevitable result of the 1 percent limit on annual property tax increases. Without being able to keep up with inflation, eventually the crunch would come.

The council cut a million dollars out of the budget this year. Some positions were permanently cut. Efficiencies did result. Fat was trimmed. However, any other significant changes for efficiency - such as combining elected offices - will have to be done through the charter process.

After the fat was trimmed, the rest of the cuts were done to the meat of the organization. You now have a reduced county staff which triages its work. We'll be paying for this in the long term.

It's easy to be cynical about government. It's easy to think they cut or reduced funding for the warm and fuzzy programs - 4-H, Master Gardeners, senior services, the fair, parks - because it would rile up voters and get the levy passed. The reality is the council needs to fund the mandated programs. If the levy isn't passed, there won't be funds left over for the non-mandated programs - parks, fair, 4-H, etc.

It is hard to watch each group come into the hearing room and earnestly say how the cost for their deserving program surely can't break the budget. These are tough times for everybody, including taxpayers. And we are all taxpayers. Renters pay property taxes through their rent. The landlord uses the rental income to pay the property tax on the rental property.

So please recognize the situation for what it is. The problem is real. The solution is simple. Vote for the county levy lift. It'll cost the owner of a $450,000 house $54 more a year in taxes. That's a solid investment in our community.

*(renters pay property taxes through rent)

editor@sanjuanislander.com

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EDITORIAL: What kind of community are you willing to pay for?