Letter to the Editor: why I voted against Shoreline's Prop 1
Saturday, October 23, 2010
To the Editor:
There are three simple reasons I voted against Shoreline’s Prop 1 proposal to increase property taxes.
1. The increase in property taxes is NOT necessary to fund existing services.
2. Shoreline already pays the highest cumulative property tax rate in King County. Another increase threatens to push out citizens and businesses that the city is here to serve.
3. The city has NOT cut expenses in all areas as they purport. Example: City Health Insurance benefits have been with the same organization since 2003. No one at the city has looked at other options to reduce their costs in over 7 years.
Our families have all cut back during this hard economic time. It’s time the city takes a hard look at what they “want” vs. what taxpayers can “afford”.
Wendy DiPeso
Shoreline
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3 comments:
I too voted NO. You can't keep throwing money at a problem and expect it to go away. Until they learn the word BUDGET, things will stay status quo. Just like the new budget ASSUMES, that Prop 1 will pass. Quit spending money before you have it!!!
The city is using money from the reserve fund in the proposed 2011 budget and they are assuming passage of proposition 1, what's with that? They still are not going to spend withing their means and are out of money even if prop 1 passes.
Ms. Depeso's letter shows that the negative campaign either doesn't understand or doesn't want the public to understand the issues.
1. The city's proposed 2011 budget is 27% below the 2010 budget, mostly due to cuts in capital projects, but even the basic operating budget is decreased. Without Proposition 1, there is no way to cut $15 million more without cutting services.
2. Shoreline businesses pay less tax than in many other places because they don't pay a B&O tax and they don't pay a tax per employee. Redmond, by comparison, charges businesses $100 per year per employee. The City of Shoreline has one of the lowest tax rates in the region.
3. Ms. Depeso forgets to mention that the city saves money by joining with over 200 other cities to get the best insurance rates possible. Instead of the city renegotiating contracts directly, the city has a broker to do that, just like many businesses do.
The negative campaign, which paid Ms. Depeso a $1,000 loan payment, is ignoring the most basic fact: Shoreline is one of the best places to live even though it has one of the lowest tax rates. The only way to keep it that way for our children is to vote Yes on Proposition 1.
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