I like councilman Hank Margeson. However, his appeal for increasing taxes in Redmond wasn’t easy for me to accept. Margeson recommended voting “yes” on tax hikes to support safety and parks. He referenced the Great Recession, and implied that Redmond wanted to “catch up.”
I don’t know about your paychecks, but mine is stretched thin, with state taxes, county taxes and city taxes. Everyone can make their own decision, of course, but I don’t get it. The state has just passed a big gasoline tax hike. The county hikes our property taxes, and here comes the city asking for more money. I have not yet “recovered” from the Great Recession in my weekly paycheck.
Back in November 2014, Washington voters approved Initiative 1351, which would reduce class size and add support staff in K-12 schools. According to King5, the initiative passed with close to 60 percent approval in King County. In years past, we didn’t see that level of support for Redmond’s budget plans. And we didn’t get the state to support Initiative 1351, either. Instead, we got a gasoline tax hike. Just say “no,” to Redmond’s tax bite.
Richard Morris
Redmond
• I am genuinely confused by the proponents of a 23-percent tax-rate increase in Redmond’s property tax. First off, they go on about how well the city is managed and about its fiscal stewardship and then list a litany of shortcomings and unmet needs. A recent letter from the committee supporting the increases states that there is a $3.6 million backlog in “small capital projects.” And apparently we are not safe in our homes or when walking the streets. Does this sound like a city that is well managed and fiscally responsible to its citizens?
That same letter from the committee states, as if it were a positive outcome, that the city council was unanimous in voting to put the tax increases on the ballot. This sounds like group-think, rather than a vigorous debate that represented the citizenry. To paraphrase former speaker of the House of Representative Sam Rayburn, when people are in complete agreement, it is likely that only one of them is doing the thinking.
Governments generally take a position of “give us more money and we will do better.” I have a different proposition: demonstrate that you can do better first, and then I will seriously consider giving you more of my hard-earned dollars.
Don Woolverton
Redmond
