Letters

Can’t afford to stay incorporated

OK, Spokane Valley residents, listen up before it’s too late. You’ve seen the signs “Disincorporate Now” and “Sign Petition Here,” you’ve heard your friends or neighbors talk about disincorporation, and you’ve more than likely had a local Valley citizen volunteer knock on your door to ask for your support by signing the initiative petition for “Disincorporation of the City of Spokane Valley.”

Remember, signing the petition is a way of saying, “Put it to a vote.” After six years, we now see how the city of Spokane Valley officials are spending and planning to spend more and more of our tax dollars. Can you afford them?

Do you want to remain as we are now, paying for the unnecessary layers of government and services that were previously provided by Spokane County? As citizens of the Spokane Valley, we are receiving less services at more than three times the cost to us in tax dollars (to the tune of a whopping $111 million for 2009). Plus if the purchase of new snow-removal equipment is added onto that budgeted amount (because of failure to renew snow-removal contracts with the county), you can tack on an additional $2 million for snowplows and sanding trucks, plus the expense of hiring drivers to operate this new equipment.

If you’re concerned about your future, your kids’ future and your grandkids’ future, then stand up and be counted. Let’s get this on the ballot for all registered voters in Spokane Valley. Don’t let them turn our Valley into just another bankrupt statistic. We, as the taxpayers, ultimately end up responsible for all of the debts these officials incur. Can you afford them?

Jim and Donna Eslick

Spokane Valley