Candidates for public office in 2007 will want to mark their
calendars for June 4 through 8, when the Kitsap County Auditor’s
Office will be accepting filing applications. Updates on who has
filed for what seat will be posted twice daily on the county’s home
page, www.kitsapgov.com.
Although this is an off election year — no presidential,
legislative or judicial races, at least in Kitsap County — several
local races are already drawing attention. Among the most high
profile contests, City of Port Orchard residents will decide who
will replace outgoing Mayor Kim Abel, who has decided not to seek a
second term, and long-time Port of Bremerton Commissioner Mary Ann
Huntington will defend her seat following a large port levy hike in
2007.
About 25 people showed up Thursday evening for a candidates
workshop hosted by the City of Port Orchard. County Auditor Karen
Flynn gave them a primer on filing protocol, campaign funding
regulations and other housekeeping issues. The candidates also got
an earful on the rewards and pitfalls of public service from past
and present elected officials who are not running for office this
year.
“It has in some ways opened my eyes,” said Port Orchard City
Councilman Fred Chang, who still has two more years to serve in his
first term. “Not that I agree with everything the council has done,
but I don’t disagree with them as much as I thought I did.”
One of the hot campaign issues identified by panel members is the
need for economic revitalization in downtown Port Orchard. The Port
Orchard City Council has incurred public criticism for dragging its
feet on its downtown revitalization plan, while others have
complained that the plan is unfavorable to current homeowners. Many
of those who attended Thursday’s workshop are the same people who
regularly have sat in — and spoken out — on public hearings about
the city’s downtown development plan.
Port Orchard Mayor Kim Abel, calling it quits after a single term,
has said she wants to pursue other opportunities, perhaps
political, but she hasn’t identified specific plans. Over the past
year, Abel has lead the city council in a prolonged effort to
establish the downtown plan, which has been touted as Port
Orchard’s best hope for revitalization. The plan, now in the final
tweaking stages, is still weeks from ratification.
The city council has five seats up for election this fall,
including those of two long-time council members Bob Geiger and
John Clauson. Geiger has sat on the council for 45 years and says
he is not planning to run again. Clauson has sat on the council
since 1983. He has not made up his mind whether to run again, he
said.
“This last four years have been the hardest years on the council,”
said Clauson, who was not at the workshop, and who cited lack of
consensus and public criticism as contributing factors. “There have
been a lot of changes in City Hall in the past four years. I don’t
think we’ve gone forward; I think we’ve gone backward.”
Long-time Port Commissioner Mary Ann Huntington, who was elected to
the port in 1989, announced Friday that she will run again.
Huntington will likely be the lightning rod for public ire over an
eye-popping port tax increase that went into effect this year.
The port established an Industrial Development District last year
to help pay off a $17.7 million bond issue it secured to improve
the Bremerton Marina. The marina work will cost $22.9 million, with
$4.5 million coming from the federal government, leaving taxpayers
to pick up the rest. The new taxing district encompasses large
areas of Bremerton and South Kitsap not exactly within spitting
distance of the water. The port, as allowed by the state
legislature, increased its tax by 45 cents per $1,000 of assessed
property value. The new tax will add $90 per year on a home valued
at $200,000.
“The Port spent six years researching and analyzing numerous ways
to finance a new marina and decided the IDD levy was the only way
we could build the complete project which is very important for the
economic development of Kitsap County,” said Huntington. “I don’t
like taxes any more than anyone else, but this project is an
essential part of a healthy and strong economy for the whole
county.”
