Edmonds, Prop. 1: Vote no on tax increase

Published 1:30 am Friday, September 26, 2025

Early on in Mike Rosen’s term as Edmonds Mayor he and i talked about the business of running a city. I was a retired senior manager of financial planning and analysis at a big utility and he came out of retirement after a leadership role in a communications consulting firm to run this city. Both of us wanting the best for Edmonds. His major concern was that the revenues were too small, and I agreed with him. We made a deal: He would raise taxes and I would stand up a new program at the senior center to cut the taxes of our seniors.

But I’ve changed my mind. His goal now is to make the government 40 percent bigger. I do not support that. And speaking as a community volunteer, is he out of his freaking mind? Does he want to double-check my math? Included the 2025 budget for the fire district annexation, add the levy lid lift on the ballot in November, add the additional $5 million in new business taxes and higher fees, and compare 2025 to 2026; it’s a 40 percent increase in the size of the general fund. I do not support government growing this big, this fast. I’m a no vote when voting in November.

And members of City Council, I have a message for you. When you approved spending $100,000 for the option to buy the Burlington Coat factory parcel, I made public comments at your meeting. I disagreed. I said “If you lay off even one lower-paid staff person after you’ve wasted this money, you will have to deal with me.” You did lay off the lowest-paid people at the city, and here’s my response today.

I am announcing the political campaign Keep Edmonds Affordable to defeat the levy. My team has our campaign launch event at 12:15 p.m, Sept. 27 at the Edmonds library.

Theresa Hollis

Edmonds