Taxpayers also ‘work so hard’

Regarding Monday’s article, “Top county officials’ pay gets review:” Well, now it makes sense why our property values went up approximately 10 percent in Snohomish County on our recent property assessments. Snohomish County needs the extra money to pay for the well-deserved pay raises for our Snohomish County elected officials. According to the Snohomish County Citizens’ Commission on Salaries of Elected Officials, Chairwoman Barbara Earl says of officials: “These guys work so hard.”

With the increasing costs of utilities, gasoline, food, real estate and just about everything it takes to live on, evidently Snohomish County taxpayers don’t work hard enough and don’t need a break from increased taxes. With the salaries of our hard-working county elected officials ranging from $88,734 to $124,411 per year, plus generous benefits which include health insurance and retirement, which many Snohomish County citizens do not have, it appears that they need to dip their heads deeper into the public trough and gorge themselves at the taxpayers’ expense. And the beat goes on!

Jim Tagart

Snohomish

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