No on Proposition 1: the Civic Campus Levy

The measure on the November 2nd ballot that will have the largest direct affect on our community is Proposition 1, the Civic Campus Levy. Yesterday, we published a statement supporting the Prop. 1 and today we are hearing from the other side. This statement opposing the Proposition is form  MLT resident Leonard French:

The $37.5 million Civic Campus levy will increase your monthly house payments (or rent) by $20. That’s $240 per year. Ouch! The City already collects $4.2 million annually from property taxes. It wants $2.7 million more. That’s a 64% increase – in a punishing recession. What are they thinking?

Supporters of the levy argue that costs might be less. They could also be substantially more. No one can accurately predict construction costs or interest rates.

But, don’t worry; the full monthly bills will be delayed until 2013. Aren’t gimmicks like “buy now, pay later” and “teaser-rate financing” how governments and individuals got into this current financial mess?

It doesn’t matter if payments you can’t afford start now or in three years. It doesn’t matter that it is $37.5 million rather than $45 million if taxpayers can’t afford $37.5 million.

What happened to the focus of the 2007 Town Center Plan, an $8.5 million City Hall? Citizen surveys echoing what the “City” wanted to hear made it a $37.5 million Civic Campus.

And, now, we’re told is the perfect time to build, ignoring that the surveys justifying this huge increase were completed before the recession’s impact on taxpayers even started. The days of easy money have given way to hard decisions. Except at city hall.

Fortunately, every voter gets to decide how much is too much. $37.5 million is too much. A 64% increase is too much. $2.7 million per year is too much. $20 per month is too much. VOTE NO!

  1. You are mistaken partner. You seem to be the same person that saving $20 a month towards college or retirement is a big mistake. I’m so looking forward to voting YES on Proposition 1.

  2. Leonard French is correct on this. Outrageous for the city council to propose such an expensive and UNNEEDED project !

    VOTE NO!

  3. I’m torn. It would be an amazing place, but I can’t even afford to fix the cracked walkway to my front door! Is this REALLY a good time to be asking people to fork over $20 per month? MOR has television commercials that proclaim if we buy new living room furniture tomorrow, we won’t have to pay for it until 2013 too. I don’t fall for MOR’s premise and I’m not too keen on this one either. Expensive is expensive
    How did this thing get so expensive, anyway? It’s triple the original proposal’s cost, isn’t it?

  4. I know they said they did a study, and are trying to offer the citizen’s what they wanted, but we simply can’t afford it right now. Mountlake Terrace is a small town, we just need a small city hall, that’s all.

  5. Wouldn’t it be best to install portalbe units on the land the city already ownes? When they save up enough of our tax money they can build a new City Hall. NO,NO,NO on prop 1

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