Letters To The Editor

Time to take control

The opponents of Valley incorporation are divided into two camps. One camp says, “The Valley will hog all of the tax revenue in Spokane County.” The other says, “There is not enough money in the Valley to support a city.” Well, which is it? Too much money or not enough?

The fact of the matter is that for years the Valley has been paying the county at least $10 million a year more than the actual cost of the services the county provides. Is it fair to say that keeping and spending Valley taxes on Valley services is “hogging” tax revenue? If it is, then the 11 incorporated cities and towns in Spokane County are all “hogging” tax revenue, because each of those cities and towns keeps and spends the taxes collected within its boundaries.

Valley incorporation is really about control of local government. How much do we want to spend on police protection? How much do we want to spend on parks? How much road repair and snow plowing do we want? We pay the bill so we should decide.

Do we want to break up old neighborhoods with large lots by forcing those citizens to hook up to the sewer? Do we want to protect the rights of citizens living on large lots to build a barn and keep a large animal? Do we want to decide where high density development should occur and where things should stay the same?

The short answer is, we live in the Valley and we should decide all of these questions among ourselves. We don’t need county planners telling us how they want to do it.

Are we going to be content to keep letting the county and downtown Spokane decide all of these issues for us? As for me and my family, we will trust in the collective judgment of the people who live in the Valley. Gene Hinkle Spokane Valley

Where’s the money?

There are far too many questions that have gone unanswered concerning the new city in the Valley.

Where exactly is the start-up money coming from? Are they going to have to borrow it? Who is in charge of authorizing the signing of contracts, hiring, etc?

Are the people pushing to start a new city planning jobs for themselves? And if so, how qualified are they? It seems we may be turning our taxes and control of our Valley over to people we know nothing about.

What about police protection? Once we become a city we will lose the state police coverage that we have right now. If we have dual coverage that’s not adequate as it is, and they plan on contracting with the county for police protection, how do these people plan to pay for the additional personnel needed without raising taxes? There may be no new taxes, but you can bet that the old taxes are sure to go up.

I urge you to vote no! Russ Whitmore Veradale

Unify our community

We’re all interested in where our money goes. Right now $31 million of our tax money generated here in the Spokane Valley goes to Spokane County and even some to the City of Spokane through the exorbitant tipping (dumping) fees imposed by the Spokane City Council. Our Valley garbage rates have increased over 300 percent since the garbage plant was built.

Valley sewering will continue, created by the demand to protect our drinking water. Incorporation will not stop this demand.

We had a police substation in the fire station at University City and the county commissioners and sheriff at that time deemed it not necessary. We have 90,000 folks in the Spokane Valley and no police station.

The city of Spokane has 2,000 employees. Spokane County has 1,803. Even the opposition says we will have a city “with nearly 400 employees.” Thanks. That’s still a lot better than 3,800 if we consolidate and form one huge city of Spokane.

Incorporation will unify our community and give us seven city council members and a mayor to represent us in the Spokane Valley. What this is all about, folks, is a power struggle over who will control our $31 million taxes. Do we want to keep this money in our new city to use as we see fit or do we want to continue to send it downtown to have some of it doled out to use as they see fit. It’s that simple. John O. Wittemberg Jr. Spokane

Valley is just fine

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” describes how I feel about “our own city” in the Valley. I moved to the Valley five years ago because it seemed like a good place to live. It still is. People like living in the Valley. So, why change it?

We don’t know what “our city” will cost, but it won’t come free. Politicos who want it tell us taxes won’t necessarily increase. What if they’re wrong? Federal Way, the pro-city faction’s rallying banner, is facing a squeeze just five years after forming.

It takes lots of money to maintain streets, police, parks, courts and such.

Before voting we must be certain we have problems and forming our own city is the only solution. We can’t turn back when things get worse. If we vote for incorporation, we’ll be stuck with the city government for better or worse. Adding an unnecessary and costly layer of government isn’t going to fix something that “ain’t broke.” Clifton Collier Spokane

Save Valley’s identity

It was inevitable that a misinformed group would form to misinform the Valley. However, we did not expect the lies that recently appeared in our local newspaper.

What “new taxes”? The $1.96 road tax will disappear from your property tax statement. That’s a given. The $19 million in Valley sales tax stays in the Valley instead of financing the rest of the county. Federal Way, Wash., brings in $7.6 million in sales taxes, has 3.4 percent more people, yet has a substantial surplus in its coffers. And what about the $20 million plus in additional taxes we must pay if consolidation occurs?

A contract with the Sheriff’s Department will guarantee at least the same level of police protection we now enjoy. If we want more, we would pay more.

The county will probably continue sewering the Valley, but if it doesn’t, a city in Washington state receives more community development funds than a county and we will be able to install our own sewers if we so desire. Remember a while back when the county tacked on an additional quarter-percent sales tax to help with the Valley sewering? It seems to have disappeared into that “black hole” of the county general budget.

Will it cost more to maintain our streets and roads after incorporation? No. Why? Because we will contract the work out the lowest bidder.

Incorporating will relieve us from the grasp of an outdated threemember county commission which was never intended to govern urban areas such as the Spokane Valley. Instead we will be represented by eight of our neighbors who will serve only Spokane Valley. Help us save the identity of the Spokane Valley by voting yes on May 16. Ed Meadows Spokane Valley

Claims are misleading

I am very concerned about the upcoming Valley incorporation election.

I believe we are being misinformed and misled on many of the claims being made by the supporters.

For instance, it’s being said we will not have more government. I can look at the phone directory under “City of Spokane” and find a lot of services, offices, etc. that we in the county either don’t need or are duplicated. We are going to be paying more taxes for more government, just as the city does to maintain buildings and personnel to staff all of this.

It’s being said fire protection, law enforcement, garbage, will be contracted out to save money.

The county can’t keep up with snow removal now so I have my doubts that they will want to contract to a new city.

It would be like asking someone to bail us out of a problem of our own choosing.

I believe some of the other services may be contracted out and that will last just long enough to set up the necessary offices and get them staffed. Then, more taxes!

I feel this incorporation vote is being forced on us. We keep voting it down but it keeps coming back only to find the boundaries have been changed to leave out the majority that voted no.

It reminds me of a bunch of kids playing a game and changing the rules until they win. Only the win this time would be out of our pocket.

Let’s vote no on May 16. We don’t need more taxes or more government. Gloria D. Davis Spokane

Keep extra $10 million

Recently there have been many advertisements on radio and newspapers denouncing the formation of a new city here in the Valley.

These ads do not tell the many positive aspects of incorporation. For example:

1. A new city with new concepts of governing, awarding contracts for basic services on a competitive basis.

2. Keeping in excess of $10 million in our tax money here in the new city that is presently supporting other parts of the country.

3. At present one local county official represents the entire Valley. Decisions affecting us are made by majority vote by three commissioners, two who don’t live in the Valley. With a new city, each area of the Valley would have their own representative responsive to their neighbors’ concepts.

4. The Valley will not remain as it is now. If we fail to create this new city, the state has mandated that we be annexed by the city of Spokane with its massive indebtedness and crumbling infrastructure. Or, we may be part of city-county consolidation to form one massive supergovernment. If you believe government is cumbersome now, this would really be mind-boggling.

5. An example of how beneficial a new city would be is the sewer. The sewering of the Valley is imperative to protect the aquifer that provides drinking water for the Valley and the city of Spokane. Where did millions of dollars go that should have been used to protect this precious resource? To sewer the area around Whitworth College. Did this help protect the aquifer? No, but it made one commissioner’s constituents very happy.

A new city is an exciting opportunity to improve the lives of our Valley citizens. Vote yes next Tuesday. Jesse Richardson Spokane

Valley would be divided

There are many unknowns regarding the proposed incorporation of a portion of the Spokane Valley, but the one known fact in all this debate is that our Valley community will be divided like never before.

For this third try, the proposed boundaries were drawn simply to eliminate voters who saw that this proposal was not in the best interest of our community. Many of your neighbors and your children’s classmates would be excluded. The proponents of incorporation have not changed the product, just the customers.

Division causes strife.

All this in the name of creating a new layer of government and added bureaucracy, which we are asked to believe will cost less than any similarly size city in the entire state of Washington.

We have been asked to look to Federal Way as an example. Now in its fifth year as a city, their actual budget has grown from $14.7 million in 1990 to $58.6 million in 1995. In a comparison of per-square-mile budget projection to Federal Way, the Valley budget would exceed $85 million. And, after less than five years in operation, Federal Way is considering forming its own police force because contracting doesn’t seem to be the answer. The Federal Way council plans to hold a bond election to ask residents to pay for new streets and parks.

Let’s not divide our community based upon fairy tales and assumptions which would cost us dearly in the future.

Help us win the no vote on Valley incorporation! Your vote is of critical importance. Dick Denenny Spokane

Leaders inexperienced

I would like to question the political expertise of the incorporation leaders.

Howard Herman, to the best of my knowledge, has never held a political office. The closest Joe McKinnon has come to holding an office was the times he ran for commissioner of the county he is now so opposed to. Sue Delucci, the political consultant of the group, when asked about how they would approach the community’s problems, came up with this: She said we could get together over tea and cookies and try to figure out what to do.

Gangs, law enforcement, road maintenance, sewers, balancing the budget - these aren’t the makings of a tea party.

If something isn’t broken, don’t fix it. Vote no on incorporation on May 16. Don Goehri Spokane

Do we want Hasson?

People who say incorporation will bring government closer are only fooling themselves. You still have to elect officials to do the governing, and you would have no more say about what should take place than you do now.

People who would vote for the city would probably vote for Steve Hasson for mayor. Do we need that?

Vote no on incorporation on May 16. Ray Goehri Spokane

Fire board in favor

The Board of Commissioners of Valley Fire District 1 voted unanimously to support incorporation of the Spokane Valley.

We took this action to protect the level of fire suppression and emergency medical services we are currently providing to all citizens and areas of the district.

We based our decision on factors learned during the boundary review hearings and on firsthand knowledge gained through the review process. Here are the facts:

The city of Spokane stated its desire for annexation of the Yardley area and defined it to be from Havana to Park Road and from Fourth to Trent. This would cause the loss of Station 6 and the need to relocate Station 2, as it is not practical to have a station so close to the boundary line. More importantly, it would make it extremely difficult for us to provide adequate response service to the Orchard area and to the area from Fourth to our southern border.

It would result in the loss of approximately $775,000 in revenue to the district. The industrial and commercial base adds significantly in our ability to service the large residential and rural areas of this district.

The Growth Management Act will have a very significant impact on the future of Spokane Valley yet the Valley has no voice on this important committee. Who can speak for the Valley? Millwood, Cheney, Airway Heights and all the small cities have a voice but not the Valley, which has twice the number of people that all the small 10 cities have. We believe that the Valley must have a voice in its future.

We believe it is necessary that the Valley has a voice in its future and that incorporation is the only option we now have to ensure that Valley citizens control their own destiny.

Please consider the above facts and please vote on May 16th. Board of Commissioners Spokane Valley Fire District 1

Time is not right

Since 1910, five generations of my family have called Greenacres home.

My husband and I, along with a brother and a sister, have chosen this as the place we want to live, and we are now raising our own families on that same acreage.

Our roots run deep. I feel as though I truly have a stake in what happens to our neighborhood.

Even though the orchards are disappearing, the pastures are fewer, and the look-alike housing tracts are rapidly encroaching, Greenacres is still mostly rural and a great place to live and raise kids.

In a week we will be voting on incorporation - again. While a city in the Valley may someday be inevitable, this is still not the time.

Greenacres should not be included within the boundaries.

Those who believe we can add another layer of government and have our taxes reduced are living in a dream world.

I have no doubt that this measure will divide neighborhoods, raise our already high taxes, and reduce the services that the county now provides.

Steve Hasson has made it clear that he wants to be mayor of this new city. That in itself should be enough to make you vote no to incorporation. Laurie Hopkins Greenacres

Foes resort to lies

Regarding the Concerned Citizens Against Valley Incorporation display on Page 5 of the May 4 Valley Voice:

I have never seen such a combination of lies and wild speculation in print.

1. Yes, a city boundary can divide expanding neighborhoods, no matter how carefully drawn - certainly after if not before incorporation. An excluded or new area can always annex.

2. To get higher taxes you have to first elect someone who likes taxes and then vote for more taxes. Federal Way currently has a lower tax rate than any other Washington city of comparable size, including no B&O tax.

3. Reduced law enforcement: This is not logical. There are only two possibilities: Keep what we have (as if we didn’t incorporate), or change it. You condemn us either way. Forming a city won’t cause increased crime.

4. “Twelve or more new city departments with nearly 400 employees” is totally unfounded wild speculation.

5. “Include sparse rural areas.” Our density (population per square mile) is greater than some established West Side cities. We are now the largest unincorporated population in the state.

6. “At-risk sewering.” Seen any sewering in the Valley lately? We can do our own, or even cooperate if another of our “layers” ever gets going on theirs.

7. “Increase cost of repairing/ maintaining streets/roads.” How?

8. “Not improve representation.” How? We will have choices and be free to choose the most cost-effective solutions. Wanda B. Warren Edgecliff

Taxes will not rise

The Valley incorporation opponents are continually saying “higher taxes” if the Valley incorporates.

It is well known that approximately $10.5 million is taken out of the Valley each year for county expenditures.

How in the world could taxes go up for the Valley citizens if they will have an extra $10.5 million to spend for these expenditures? Bob Mauzy Spokane Valley

Don’t ruin good deal

Friends and neighbors, don’t be misled by the zealots for incorporating the Valley.

These promoters don’t want to obey the existing few laws in place or pay the tax base that we now have, so they will move out of the area once they find out that they have more laws to follow and more costs once incorporation is set up, leaving the rest of us to fund their mistakes.

We really have a pretty good deal now. Don’t ruin it. Frank Wagner Spokane Valley

Make sure you’re heard

On May 16, all registered voters within the boundary of the proposed city of Spokane Valley will be asked to participate in a major decision regarding the type of government this community will have.

Exercise your responsibility as a citizen by voting. Don’t allow a small group of people to make this important decision for you.

Please, take the time to vote and encourage your neighbor to vote! Leonard Cash Spokane

Unified voice stronger

You have no doubt heard conflicting reports about what Valley incorporation will and will not do. The only concrete example in the state of Washington as to what a new city, contracting for services, can do is the city of Federal Way.

Over the past four years, Federal Way has provided all urban services to 75,000 citizens without resorting to a B&O tax or utility tax. Meanwhile, the city has developed the lowest real estate tax rate among the 15 largest cities in the state and has accumulated $14 million in reserves. They have been so successful that Weyerhaeuser, a former opponent of incorporation, has voluntarily annexed to the city. There is no reason in the world why Spokane Valley cannot to the same, particularly when it has a vastly superior tax base.

Regardless of arguments about taxes, the real issue in this campaign is local control of government. At the present time there are approximately 100,000 people in the Spokane Valley who have no representation on: the Growth Management Steering Committee, Spokane Transit Authority, Air Pollution Control Board, Spokane Airport Board, Regional Transportation Council, Health District Board, Public Facilities District, Regional Solid Waste Board.

Ironically, the town of Millwood (population 1,700) has a seat on all these boards. But not the 100,000 people living in the urban community in the Spokane Valley.

By incorporating, the entire Valley would be unified through representation on these various boards.

This would create a strong voice for the concerns of the entire Valley in all of those areas of local government. Howard Herman Spokane

Can foes guarantee?

In the ad sponsored by the antiincorporation group, the No. 1 item was that taxes will be raised. Are they going to guarantee that taxes will not be raised if they should happen to win? E.A. Heggem Spokane