Recent Property Tax Increase Unnecessary

November 12, 2003

To the editor:

On November 4, 2003, a majority of the Pierce County Council voted to raise property taxes in order to fund projects for the Pierce County Conservation District.   Though I support the Conservation District's efforts to protect our environment, I could not support this property tax increase.  Instead, I pushed for a common sense alternative that would have used existing county revenues to fund the Conservation District.  Here are the details of my common sense alternative.

Since 1988, Pierce County has collected Surface Water Management (SWM) fees to support our Storm Drainage and Surface Water Management Utility within Public Works.  The SWM fund is used not only to prevent flooding, but also to fund similar projects that the Conservation District is talking about undertaking, e.g., preserving water quality, restoration work on streams, and recovering salmon.

In 1997, the County Council chose to dramatically increase these fees and, in many cases, quadrupled the amount of money collected from property owners.  The very reasons given for creating the SWM fund were re-iterated again when this fee increase was enacted.  In fact, people were reassured that the fees collected in a particular basin would be used strictly for projects within that basin.

Over the years, Pierce County has continued to collect these SWM fees.  Some of the money has been used to fund various projects and deal with flooding.  However, a good chunk of the dollars have been building up in a reserve fund.  Currently, Pierce County has $21 million in unallocated reserves sitting in the Surface Water Management Fund.  Despite numerous public hearings and many individual requests from my office, the Pierce County Council has yet to receive a clear explanation from the Water Programs Division as to how these reserve funds are being utilized.  In fact, it is my belief that no clear plan exists.

Instead of raising property taxes even higher, the Pierce County Council should have looked to the reserves in the Surface Water Management Fund as a way of appropriating dollars for the Conservation District.  The common sense alternative would have been to dip into this $21 million reserve fund and use it to fund the specific projects that the Conservation District has outlined.  This is exactly how Kitsap County and Snohomish County fund their Conservation District. 

Government must realize that the answer to every problem is not to simply raise taxes.  By choosing to raise property taxes without even considering a common sense alternative, the majority of the County Council acted in a fiscally irresponsible manner.  It is no wonder why people are frustrated with government at all levels.

Kevin Wimsett.

Council member Wimsett represents the 3rd Council District which includes the communities of Ashford, Eatonville, Elbe, Elk Plain, Frederickson, Graham, South Hill, and Spanaway.

                                                                                                                                                          Back to Top

                                                                                                                                                          Back to Front Page

     We Care!