By Angie Homola
I recently viewed a video that Mr. Strowbridge aired on YouTube of himself driving 98 miles per hour on Whidbey Island in his yellow Corvette. He now complains that there are not enough deputies. He claims that the county spent over $8 million on land purchases since 2007 because it appears he searched and linked all “Island County” prefixed purchases with the county. It was really closer to $250,000 for one purchase from a dedicated land conservation fund and a small land transfer of $25,000 both in 2008. He seems to have trouble getting the road project funding and the current budgetary matters straight. I will attempt to dispel some of these false claims.
The past Board of County Commissioners structured a financial model that relied on new construction to pay the bills. When the building boom collapsed their solution was to use $3 million of the reserve fund and to reduce some staff. They made no further budget cuts. They kept what was estimated to be $2 million shortfall for 2009 quiet until after the election. The current board identified that the shortfall was underestimated by $3.2 million and responded by making $4.2 million worth of drastic cuts ranging from 2 percent to 37 percent by department including non-mandated program cuts. The current board looked five years out as opposed to the traditional one year and discovered the county is on a path to insolvency by the year 2015. Sweeping reforms over a broad range of programs were implemented and $1 million of the reserve fund was used to balance the 2009 and 2010 budgets. These prudent measures earned the county a AA bond rating in late 2009.
At 57 percent of the General Fund Budget, law and justice remains the board’s number one priority. The board utilized the 1 percent permitted annual property tax increase, which has been a reliable revenue source to counties and cities since before and after the state Legislature (even though it was considered unconstitutional) reduced the cap from 6 percent to a fiscally irresponsible 1 percent in 2001, requiring a simple majority vote to realign it (i.e. the reason for Proposition 1).
As for “feel good” programs, Mr. Strowbridge must be referring to Meals on Wheels and critical programs for the elderly, food vouchers for indigent families, early learning and maternal support, Master Gardeners which put 2,000 pounds of food in our food banks last year, agricultural programs that teach us how to keep food production on our own soils, water quality monitoring, drunk driving awareness for teens, parks and open space, the Sheriff’s Citizens Watch and other essential community programs that reduce costs, bring tourism and sales tax dollars into the county and avail required match monies necessary to qualify for millions of dollars in grants. Supporting them is both fiscally and morally responsible.
If Proposition 1 does not pass, an additional $2 million worth of cuts will be necessary to simply hold the county at the current reduced levels and secure minimal banking security. Cutting every last penny of these “feel good” programs will amount to approximately $500,000 in immediate savings with far more lost revenues and community safety in the long run. Clearly there will have to be cuts to mandated programs as well. This predicament resulted from a past reliance on sales tax dollars from growth to fill the county (and cities’) coffers. That bubble has popped and is not the long-term fix that will sustain current or future budgets. The population growth requires public services and associated infrastructure maintenance. More people, more services.
With so many cuts and 15 percent fewer staff than the county had 10 years ago we now have serious problems meeting statutes without realistic revenues to do so. Services cost money at a rate that follows inflation averaging at least 3 percent not 1 percent per year. Hence the Proposition 1 ballot measure asks local citizens to vote for the ability to adjust the property tax rate up one tick from the lowest in the state (a 16 cent per $1,000 of assessed value bump – or approximately $3.50 per month per property owner) and the ability to meet inflationary costs for the next five years (the consumer price index or CPI). It then reverts to 1 percent per year. That CPI is predicted to reach only 2.4 percent by 2015.
The General Fund Budget is only 7 percent of your overall property tax bill (or $175 per average property owner per year) and is the only levy affected by Proposition 1. The balance of your property taxes are mainly voter approved designated districts such as schools, hospital, EMT, fire, cemetery, library, public transit and drainage which are outside of the county budget or purview. Regarding fiscal management experience, in my past I worked as a contract administrator overseeing many commercial architectural projects at once. I kept these project budgets and my architectural business in line. My fellow commissioners have both commercial and private business experience. Bill, please get the facts straight, and watch your speed. For more information visit the Island County website at www.islandcounty.net.
Angie Homola is an Island County Commissioner.
