As a parent of a couple of “Swim Kids” who have devoted 3 hours a day, six days a week and at least a weekend a month to the NWAC swim team for over three years now I just wanted to also express my support for keeping the pool open.

I pay about $75 a child per month, not including meet fees and travel costs, for a sport that has been a driving force in developing athleticism, teamwork and discipline on and off the pool deck. What I receive back is worth far more than my wife and I could afford on our own and the long term opportunity it creates is priceless. We have an outstanding head coach in Neil Romney who lives, eats and breathes swimming who will push these kids well beyond what they think they can do. I am not sure how we attracted a coach of this caliber to our little swim club but it truly will be a shame if we have to lose him and this program.

I have lived in the city of Oak Harbor and paid property taxes here for nearly 25 years. Currently 53 percent of my property taxes go to the public school system, 25 percent goes to the city, 8 percent goes to the hospital, 6 percent goes to the county and 5 percent goes to the library. In total 97 percent of my property taxes are already spoken for. With what is left, which isn’t much, I pay about the same amount for the Land Trust to acquire land and easements as I do to support our pool and the livelihood of several workers who are depending on us to keep it open.

And to my knowledge the Parks and Recreation District does not receive a multitude of matching grants from federal and state sources like the Land Trust does. The bottom line is that although you are making a statement by voting against the continuing parks levy you really are not making a hill of beans difference when it comes to reducing your property taxes.

Not only do we have an attractive facility for families and members of the community to use at a reasonable cost on a year round basis we have also built an institution that is established and provides both tangible and intangible value to our community. It is something others look to when considering coming here and investing their time and resources. In the current economic climate I don’t think we can afford to lose this resource. Please reconsider your decision if you are planning on voting against this levy. I and many others in our community thank you for your support.

Kirk Huffer
Oak Harbor