04/15/2023
ok... some reading material...
We got called out for... :
"I see you're against funding additional police services in U.P. Then how do you propose to protect we citizens of UP? Criminal love people like you who want to limit law enforcement. Ya think maybe we otta get policemen for free? If you don't think the UP Council is doing a good job managing our City finances maybe you should become one of them and we'll see how great a job you'll do at it. "
Grab your favorite beverage. This is my response. There are some things here you should be aware of as you consider your stance on this issues:
"Thank you Mr. D #$% for being a concerned citizen and a voter. I respect your opinion and value your input.
Let me start by saying that I am not against police, police services, nor am I against paying for them. What I am against is our city councils' constant and excessive need for MORE MONEY when I note over and over again how they spend it like it grows on trees without any regard for the burden it puts on the residents of UP.
Oh, I did run for city council TWICE. I find it interesting and aggravating that the two members who are acting Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem seem to always be holding those positions when they are up for reelection. You do know that they take turns, right? I can't even count how many people approached me and asked 'So... you want to be mayor!'??? both times when I ran.
Are you aware that we contract police services via Pierce County Sheriff? Don't be offended by my asking, you'd be surprised how many people don't know that. The contract that we carry with Pierce County for these services is written with a MINIMUM 3% annual increase.
The city has recognized that funding it via property taxes alone was not sustainable OVER 10 years ago, likely much longer. They state that they fund police service via the property taxes and make it sound like that's the only money they have. Did you know that as of LAST year the property taxes made up less than 20% of their revenue. They like to call out the fire department for how much they take in comparison to the city, and on some level that's a legitimate 'call out', but here's the deal, the fire department/district doesn't have any state funding, sales tax, building and permitting, fees, utility tax, TBD, franchise fees, ETC.
Yes, I said LAST YEAR, because as of ??? February when we were writing the statement the third quarter figures weren't yet posted for the city budget. Thus they were only reporting the NEW revenue stream from utility tax at 3% for only a few months. JUST THIS MONTH that went to 6%. DID THEY ASK US ABOUT THAT? No! The TBD? No! The sewer franchise fee? No! The state is constantly taking away funding, laying on requirements and then following that with funding sources that can be implemented with the drop of a gavel at a city council meeting while nobody is watching... or not enough people are watching to make a difference.
This is our one opportunity to say No to more taxes and demand that they get their house in order. I, for one, am NOT going to miss it.
We contract EVERYTHING out... lawn mowing, roads, courts, police, jail, humane society. UP used to have their own water, did you know that? Now they are discussing how to get more money out of residential rental housing and they'll follow that with a discussion regarding 'affordable housing'. In fact the state did just mandate that every city put in place a plan to provide more middle housing and fill the extraordinary shortage of affordable housing. They CANNOT continually make it more expensive to live here and the even pretend that they care about affordable housing. Well, ya, it looks like they can, because they do.
So, no sir, I'm not against police. I'm not against funding police. I am against imagining that they can't be much much more responsible with our money and find another way.
OH... also... I did call around questioning their figures and presentation on our level of police coverage as compared to other cities years ago. The police chief in Puyallup spent some time with me on the phone and explained why their figures seemed so high in comparison to ours, Lakewood confirmed that. So, check this out... They are operating a jail, a prison, courtrooms, they have the fairgrounds, hwy 512 (Lakewood, I5), a mall or two, numerous strip malls, warehouses, manufacturing and distribution, 167, numerous lodging facilities (hotels), transient population and a host of other items that require more coverage or pose more of a threat then ANYTHING we have going on. You might also go so far as to note that we have absolutely no threat on our West flank. Just sayin!
You might also note that Fife, Lakewood, Puyallup AND Fircrest enjoy MILLIONS of dollars in revenue ($2M Fircrest, the others range between $5-7M, this was several years ago, these figures might be much larger now) from school zone traffic cams, red light cams etc. Each of them drawing in more than enough to double or triple our police force WITHOUT raising property taxes. Here's the kicker, as I understand it IT'S FREE.
I did ask a currently seated city council person about why we had virtually NO revenue via traffic violations, you will note that Fircrest uses officers, not cameras ($2M, years ago). Do you know what the council person said to me? That we didn't want to annoy/bother our citizens with such things. Or something very close to that.
Sorry... I do tend to carry on. This issue is much bigger than you imagine.
Have a nice day. I do wish you well."
