[EDITOR’S NOTEThe following is a Letter to the Editor, written and submitted by verified resident. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions of South King Media, nor its staff.]

Dear Des Moines City Councilmembers:

The voters have spoken, and their message was clear: the proposed permanent 57 percent increase in the city’s property tax was unacceptable.

This decision was not just a matter of numbers but also a personal impact on many families, including mine. The burden of this tax increase on hardworking families, like my daughter’s, is a heavy one. 

I have a daughter and son-in-law who live in Des Moines and are raising my two grandchildren. My son-in-law has a good job at Boeing, and my daughter works for a construction company. They work hard like most families in our city. To add more taxes would be another burden they and most families don’t need.

Your fiscal mismanagement and lack of transparency over the past eight years are reasons many of us need more confidence in your ability to budget responsibly. 

We must understand why the city is in such bad financial shape and adjust our priorities to focus on sustainability. Otherwise, this economic disaster will recur. Your own projections predict continual deficits for the rest of the decade unless we change course. 

Considering this financial strain, how could you take out a $24M bond? I can understand how some councilmembers were duped; the last city manager was a master at hiding the ball. I can’t comprehend how the bankers bought into such an obvious pipedream. The city needs revenue now, and the Marina Steps will produce zero revenue. We will make money immediately by building the dry-stack storage and replacing the piers.

The passenger ferry idea has been around for a long time, but it is completely unreasonable that Des Moines could finance it alone. The consultant is pushing for using electric ferries that do not exist. The recharging system exists only in theory. 

We can’t balance our own budget; what business do we have inventing a new transportation system? It’s the same wishful thinking that insisted that if we built a hotel on the highway, money would flow in. Or that landing the FAA for the business park would cause our Marina District to soar. Remember the prediction that the marine mammal hospital would bring “hundreds of thousands of visitors” to the Marina? 

If we still pay a ferry consultant, that should stop; we’d have better luck buying Lotto tickets.  

The voters have spoken. Putting this back on the November ballot is a slap in the face. It is not just a disregard for their decision but a direct challenge to their authority. 

– Susan White

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