Officials warn Eyman’s I-864 will cut deep

EVERETT — As Everett residents adjust to recent cuts in parks programs, library hours and other services, city officials are warning of a near-doomsday scenario if Tim Eyman’s Initiative 864 qualifies for the November ballot and passes.

"It would be an absolute disaster," City Councilwoman Marian Krell said of the initiative, which would slash most property taxes by 25 percent.

Mayor Ray Stephanson and all seven council members said they oppose I-864.

Passage of the initiative would cut an estimated $8 million — or nearly 10 percent — from the city’s general budget, which funds police, fire, parks and other services, Stephanson said. That’s in addition to $3.7 million that must be cut from the 2005 budget even if I-864 doesn’t pass, he said.

Stephanson said the city would probably have no choice but to lay off up to 100 employees, including police officers. Police and fire services make up 58 percent of the budget, he pointed out.

City Council President Arlan Hatloe warned that one of the two libraries may have to close and parkland might have to be sold.

"We’re being stretched right now just to maintain parks," he said. "Our city has been cutting for the past several years. There’s no fat left. We’re at the point now where any further cuts will be to the bone and would have a real impact on services and people."

Eyman accused officials in Everett and elsewhere of exaggerating the impact of I-864.

"Voters have learned to totally discount Chicken Little, the-sky-is-falling rhetoric from politicians," he said. "It’s laughable to hear elected officials trying to scare voters, because people look at their property tax bills and that’s scary enough."

Eyman, a Mukilteo businessman, said that if voters decide the city has to cut too many services because of I-864, they can vote for additional revenue through a tax levy. I-864 would not affect tax levies approved by voters.

Eyman’s Initiative 747, which passed in 2001, limited the increase in the property-tax rate to 1 percent a year. But it didn’t address the "obscene" increase in taxes over the past two decades, and it doesn’t control large property-tax hikes that occur as property values rise, Eyman said.

Hatloe said Eyman "doesn’t have a clue as to what the effects of this would be. He’s not living in the real world. He doesn’t want to run for office and take responsibility for this and make decisions on what to cut."

"Tim Eyman’s suggestion that you can have it all without paying for it is ludicrous," City Councilman Mark Olson said. "He’s not a man with a whole lot of solutions."

Stephanson said the full effects of two previous Eyman initiatives have not yet been felt. For example, the city has lost more than $5 million in tax revenue as a result of I-747. But that will balloon to nearly $20 million by 2008, he said.

"The full impact of those lost revenues won’t be felt for years, if not decades," he said.

The mayor said city officials will prepare two budgets for 2005, one with the effects of I-864 and one without them.

"Our intention would be for it to be as specific as possible so our citizens would know which services they would lose," he said.

Olson said he’s already been speaking out against the proposed initiative at neighborhood meetings, and plans to continue doing so.

"We need to reach out to people and let them know what this would do to the amenities we have in Everett, like good parks, good schools, good law enforcement and good libraries," he said.

Eyman needs nearly 200,000 signatures for I-864 by July 2 to qualify for the ballot. Eyman would only say that he and his supporters are "making good progress" gathering signatures.

Reporter David Olson: 425-339-3452 or dolson@heraldnet.com.

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