New, permanent tax not needed

Maintaining our parks is a good idea, the creation of a permanent Metropolitan Parks District (property tax) to fund parks is a bad idea.

The pro-parks group would have you believe that without the creation of a MPD that parks won’t be funded. Not true. Parks have been entirely funded out of the general fund section of the budget for a long time. The pro-parks group claim that we need a more stable source of funding for the parks, so when the economy turns down the parks are still funded at the same level. Creating a MPD assures that the parks (and a lot of other spending) will be funded in good times and bad. The problem with this is that when times are tough and you have to cut your personal budget, your property tax will not be cut. It will go on whether you can afford it or not. If the parks budget is not subject to cuts when the economy turns down, what other city services will have to be cut to compensate? The entire parks budget should be flexible and adjusted to reflect prosperous times as well as tough times. The MPD is a permanent property tax increase of 75 cents per thousand of assessed value. We don’t need this to fund parks!

It’s up to us, the citizens of Snohomish to say “enough!” Let your voice be heard. Vote “no” on Proposition 1, creation of an MPD.

Dan Winkelmann

Snohomish