||| FROM KATIE FLEMING |||
Please understand that I am writing this letter as a private citizen, not in my capacity as a county employee or in any way affiliated with my employer.
I’ve lived on San Juan Island for 15 years, and I feel lucky every day that this is home – the place where I’m raising a family. The natural environment here isn’t a backdrop to our lives, it’s the heart of them.
Hiking through forests, spending sunny days at the beach, exploring our beautiful marine waters – these aren’t just weekend activities, they’re why so many of us chose to live here and why we stay. That quality of life is something I don’t want to take for granted.
It’s no accident that this place feels so remarkable – it’s the result of sustained investment in parks and programs, environmental stewardship, and long-term planning around sustainability and climate change. That investment is now under pressure. San Juan County faces significant financial constraints – limited by the state’s 1% cap on annual tax increases and reduced federal and state funding – and I’m not ready to find out what we’d lose without action.
The levy lid lift restores the tax rate to its 2019 level of $0.85 per $1,000 of assessed value – roughly $22 more per month for the average homeowner. I know property taxes are a burden for many of us. They are for my family too. But to protect these special places, the programs that support them, and the quality of life they make possible, I hope you’ll join me in voting YES by April 28.
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To the Editor:
Katie Fleming is right to cherish our parks and natural environment. We all do. But protecting San Juan County shouldn’t mean taxing the working middle class and retirees right off the islands. Over the years, residents have been hit with levy after levy, a 1% Land Bank tax, new affordable housing taxes, and property recording fees that now top $300. We have repeatedly footed the bill to preserve this beautiful place, but this endless cycle of increases is crushing the families, small businesses, and fixed-income seniors who actually live and work here.
What makes this latest permanent tax demand so offensive is what the County does with the money it already has. When temporary COVID relief funds ran out, the Council chose to protect itself first. They locked in a 32-hour, four-day work week for county employees at full 40-hour pay, and sent the permanent bill to us. Now, county offices run roughly 10 to 4, Monday through Thursday. Calls go to voicemail, permits drag on, and taxpayers are forced to fund a government that works less while charging more.
We all love these islands. But loving this place also means protecting the people trying to afford to stay here. Working families and retirees cannot be the endless backstop for a government that refuses to live within its means. It is time for the County to make the same hard financial choices every household and small business already makes, instead of passing the buck to the people who can least afford it. Vote No on Proposition 1.
Our county government is disorganized, bloated, and inefficient. Most of this is probably an indirect result of good intentions, but we have reached a point where the citizens need to push back. The first step is denying this levy lift. The second step is communicating to our county leaders through words and elections that we need them to refocus on core services.
I can’t think of a better example of our misguided county priorities than Katie Fleming’s own county-funded initiative to fill San Juan County kitchens with $1000 food scrap incinerators. Take a look at the county employee roster. Count how many people have the title of ‘coordinator’. If so many people are required to ‘coordinate’, maybe we need to make some structural changes to the way our county government operates. I have never seen anything like it and for everyone’s sake, I hope we can fix it. I’m voting ‘no’, as I no longer feel my taxes are being spent responsibly.