The same post is running on the Kitsap Caucus blog.
If you are to believe those on the losing side of tax levies
since last year, the tax the port passed is still affecting other
tax measures. They brought it up when South Kitsap’s school bond
failed. The library bond failed, the port became a question.
If tax boosters are right, residents didn’t get to vote on the
port’s Industrial Development District tax to build the marina, so
they’re voting against it now every chance they get.
Tonight, Bremerton City Councilman Will Maupin said the IDD tax
not only affected Bremerton’s parks levy, it affected his own
margin of victory. He’s winning his race with a 53-47 margin
against former councilman Eric Younger.
“I guess it’s just that it’s just that there is always the
feeling because of the unrest in property taxes and the port tax
and the feeling that we need to make a change, that somebody else
might be looking out for my well being or my property taxes
more.”
You can draw attention to the fact that the other incumbent
running in Bremerton, Dianne Robinson, won handily. But Robinson
ran against a first-time candidate with no history on the council
and a short history in the city. Maupin’s opponent, Eric Younger,
does have experience on the dais and has stark differences with the
incumbent.
Maupin might have a point on his own race, but that the port tax
may have had an impact on Tuesday’s parks levy is easily more
believable.
“I thought that when we first put that on the ballot that we had
built up enough good will in the city that citizens were willing to
invest some of their money in the Bremerton redevelopment. I think
the port tax was an issue that didn’t die. It built up an
unhappiness. I heard that over and over again as I was doorbelling
and I think that’s what doomed our parks levy.”
The question then becomes how it will affect the city’s move to
boost car tab fees to pay for roads. In pre-election debates all
Bremerton council candidates said they favored putting a $20 boost
in car tabs on the ballot. Maupin said Tuesday’s parks levy defeat
will impact how the council moves forward with the street issue,
but perhaps not substantially.
“It’s going to have some effect on our decision-making process,
but I think the process is still what we planned all along. We’ll
have a very vigorous public information campaign and see if we have
support for $20 car tabs in order to support street repair.”
If all this is true and I’m running any government agency with
an ability to ask voters for money, I’ve got to wonder if I would
instead conspire to make do until the hangover from the port tax
wears off, assuming people really are still voting against it.
If they are, when will it stop?
