DISTRICT 1 NEWS

October 2013

Dear Citizen,

Budget adoption, community outreach, a general election, tax collection...your local government is busy working on your behalf. This month there are some opportunities for your civic participation. I hope to see you around!

2014 Budget and Buying Locally

The Commissioners held a public hearing to adopt the budget last Monday and decided to continue it for one more week to allow for additional public input.

Here is a link to the Budget Director's overview presentation.

Please share your thoughts and suggestions with me via the email address at the bottom of this newsletter. Your input is always welcome. I believe this budget reflects the priorities and responsibilities of the County for 2014.

It is clear from the Budget Director's presentation that though we were able to add some additional capacity to our law and justice programs for the coming year, there is no way to restore these services to 2008 levels without severe cuts to other departments or some additional resources. The costs of maintaining current levels of county services rises at about 3% per year and the property tax rate is capped at 1%.

Local sales tax receipts are ticking up about 4%, which is good news. But Island County receives a much smaller fraction of our revenues from sales taxes than our neighbors in Skagit and Snohomish Counties, where many of our citizens choose to do a lot of shopping.

Even if each of us begin making a few more purchases locally, it will have a positive impact on tax receipts and thus on the level of public services in our community. Local sales taxes support general County programs as well as restricted funding for Mental Health programs, and Criminal and Juvenile Justice programs.

I urge you to patronize local businesses as much as possible. They support local jobs and our local economy. However, it is important to remember that even if you sometimes feel you can't get what you need at a local store, if you order it online from a Washington State company such as Amazon, the sales tax follows the delivery of your purchase. This means the County retains the tax benefit of your purchase and can use those resources to support important local programs.

Meet and Greet with Planning Director

This month's Coffee with the Commissioner will be October 23rd at
Wi-Fire in Freeland. I will have Dave Wechner with me, Island County's new Director of Planning and Community Development. It is a no-host coffee and conversation about issues important to our community. I hope you will join us from 4:30 to 6:00 pm.

Vote and Pay Property Taxes

Counties are responsible for all the elections and property tax collection in this country.

Think about that. The fundamental decisions of our citizens and the basic funding of local and state government are dependent upon our County resources for success. That is a responsibility I take very seriously.

Ballots for the November general election will be mailed from the Auditor's office next week. Be sure to take the time to let your voice be heard. Here is a link to the newly updated election website. It includes the online voters guide to help you make informed decisions.

Ballots must be postmarked by November 5th.

The Treasurer's website is able to accept property tax payments for your convenience. They are due by October 31. No one I know loves to pay taxes, but it helps to remember that most of the money goes to support state and local schools, fire service, libraries, the hospital and some parks; these are investments which make our community more resilient for the long term. Only about 7 cents of each property tax dollar goes for local County programs (like courts, elections, deputies, etc.) and another 7 cents is used to maintain our local road system.

The Treasurer collects all these property taxes for the state and other local jurisdictions and then immediately distributes those revenues to each public entity. Taxes are the way our citizens pool their resources for the good of our community.

Your local government belongs to you. Please feel free to contact me anytime with ideas, questions or concerns.

It is an honor to serve you,

Helen Price Johnson
Island County Commissioner, Dist. 1

district1@co.island.wa.us

(360)679-7354

PO Box 5000

Coupeville, WA 98239