Letter to the Editor: Planned Community Conversations Ill-advised

(Note: At the January 8, 2013 and December 18, 2012 County Council meetings, Interim County Manager Bob Jean presented memos regarding  the proposed schedule and budget for a series of Community Conversations to be held Feb-April on Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Islands. On January 22, Jean said the dates, topics and budget were “preliminary and changing” and that the final dates and topics should be finalized this week.)

Dear Council—

Having reviewed the draft notice for the “Community Conversation,” I have several questions.

I am puzzled why the “Winter Council” is spending time on the Community Conversation. It seems to me that the Council-of-Three will be making the hard decisions on the budget. The Winter Council, which was lawfully elected to do a job, has precious little time to address any issues, and spending so much time on this project will waste much of it.

I am also curious why, if the budget is “balanced” for three years, we are pushing this process into a few weeks in the dead of winter of 2013. As many have made clear before, a far larger part of the taxpaying public is present in spring and summer.

The incredibly dense schedule will virtually assure that many working people with families will be unable to attend. This leaves the paid lobbyists and interest groups. Not the best way to get a good feel for the people’s opinions.

The conversation has a really heavy consultant-speak feel to it. I’m not sure when County management staff will realize it but County residents are not usually happy with management school buzzwords and techniques.

I question whether those of us who agree to devote hours of our time to the process will be provided with the type of information required to make intelligent decisions. Will there be data on what particular services cost? How much they cost other small counties? County expenditures per capita? Staffing in other counties? Because asking folks what they would like to see provided is all wishing on rainbows without the cost information. What percentage of our land is not taxable, whether due to Land Bank or Preservation Trust ownership, public parks, or the special tax benefits provided to ag and open space lands? What portion of our land is undeveloped? What efforts have been made to seek County-appropriate requirements in the state legislature, to reduce costs such as stormwater management or long-term planning? What role does the recent series of bond issuances play in the picture? Does it make sense to roll up any of the special taxes? Can different islands provide different levels of services consistent with the Comprehensive Plan?

Finally, we keep hearing that County costs are growing faster than the 1% per year that taxes may rise. Why is that so? Salaries? Benefits? Cost of fuel? Cost of paper? Cost of boats? I believe that it was the Auditor who produced the attached graphic that shows rapid growth of the cost of government (General Fund) here since about 2006, far, far in excess of the regional rise in costs. All the data I’ve seen since have used 2008 as a baseline. I understand that part of this results from reworking recordkeeping, but why not look at 2006 as the baseline for services? That is where the dramatic upturn took place. We need analysis in order to make informed decisions. Do we have that?

All in all, this exercise seems ill-conceived and ill-timed. I realize that we are looking at a fiscal cliff, but the last Council claims to have bought us time to consider the issues in a rationale manner. We should use that time wisely and fairly.

Peg Manning
Orcas