Monday, August 6, 2007

Vote NO on ALL the Propositions!

The recent King County Local Primary Voters' Pamphlet describes two propositions for King County and two propositions for the City of Redmond. To keep this short, I'm going to use the abbreviation of "1KofAV" for the phrase "$1000 of Assessed Valuation"

King County Prop1 renews a County Tax Levy on Property Owners for park maintenance. The statement "for" the Proposition claims this levy will cost the "average household just $20 per year". This is an increase of $0.05 per 1kofAV.

King County Prop2 is an additional property tax to fund improvements at Woodland Park Zoo and regional trails. Again, the statement "for" claims this levy will "cost a family living in a typical home only $20 a year". This is also an increase of $0.05 per 1kofAV.

City of Redmond Prop 1 is a "Levy for Public Safety Funding". This increases the city's tax rate by $0.35 per 1kofAV. (Thiry five cents per 1000? That's a HUGE increase!)

Finally, Redmond Prop 2 is a "Levy for Parks and Recreation Funding". This is another increase of $0.05 per 1kof AV.

For the math challenged, if all four of these propositions pass, then voters will have increased their property taxes by $0.50 per 1kofAV. If your assessed propery value is $400,000 or more you will be paying at least an additional $200 in property taxes each year. That's a huge increase!

These levys have been brought before us because the county and city officials couldn't figure out where to cut their budgets. So they cut programs that were very desirable and marketable (public safety and parks) and turned to us to increase their funding!

According the the City of Redmond Statement of Revenues and Expenditures for 2006, the city had revenues in excess of $93 millon with over $11 million left over! Isn't $11 million enough? Why do they need even more??? If I'm reading the The King County Statement of Revenues and Expenditures correctly, the county had revenues of over $1.4 billion! Good Lord! That's lots of play money, isn't it?

Only it isn't play money, it's your money and it's my money.

I can do what the local politicians cannot: Manage my own budget. I can't afford to add an additional $200 in spending this year, so I'll vote NO for all four of these propositions. I hope you will, too!

Primary is on Tuesday, August 21st 2007. VOTE NO!

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