Time for a reality check on annexation

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, December 9, 2006

The rallying cry of the Lake Stevens annexation supporters seems to be, “Spend our tax dollars here.”

Let’s take a reality check and look at some of our tax dollars that Snohomish County has spent in the Lake Stevens area. The county built Lundeen Park, Wyatt Park and Sunset Park. It built walkways along the Davies and Vernon Roads. It built Lundeen Parkway and the roundabout. It built the bridges on Vernon Road, the East Lake Stevens Road and two on 16th Street NE.

The county built the Centennial Trail and was a major contributor to the aerator cleaning the lake. We also have the county to thank for servicing the roads outside the city during our recent bout of bad weather. To claim that Snohomish County is not putting tax dollars back into the Lake Stevens area simply is not true. Can the city-land-grab supporters actually substantiate their claim that the Lake Stevens area is not realizing its share of county expenditures?

The lack of repair to Hartford Drive is an example of the City of Lake Stevens’ inability or unwillingness to maintain infrastructure within its current boundaries. Is that an unadvertised benefit of annexation?

Dave Kosche

Lake Stevens