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King County Local Voters Pamphlet
November 6, 2001 General Election
City of Carnation
Proposition No. 1
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PROPOSITION NO. 1
POLICE PROTECTION LEVY - $108,000
Shall the City of Carnation, Washington, be authorized
to levy an excess property tax for one year for
collection in the year 2002 in the amount of $108,000
(One Hundred Eight Thousand Dollars), which is
estimated to be 0.81 mils per $1,000.00 of full
assessed value, for the purpose of providing funds
for police services, all as provided in Resolution No.
266?
Approved
__ Rejected __
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| EXPLANATORY STATEMENT |
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If approved by the voters, this proposition will provide $108,000 for 2002 to cover
increased contract costs for police services. The levy is for the purpose of maintaining
the existing staffing level of two full time officers and one part time chief providing
police protection to the City of Carnation. The Police Protection Excess Levy is
anticipated to increase the tax rate over last year’s rate by .81 mils per thousand of
assessed value.
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| STATEMENT FOR |
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The City of Carnation began contracting for police services with
the King County Sheriff’s Department in 1999. Prior to contracting
with King County, we regularly passed police levies of up to
$95,000 to fund police operations. When we contracted with King
County, we qualified for a one-time, three-year, $62,000 per year
federal grant, and other one-time funding. Because the grant
expires this year, we are forced to help fund the police once again
through the levy process.
100% of these funds will be used to help pay for police services
at the current level of two full-time officers and a half-time chief,
and will contribute over 25% of the total police budget. The levy will
continue to provide us with experienced and trained officers.
No “frills” will be added to our current service. Failure of this
levy may force us to eliminate a full-time officer, leaving only one,
decreasing our coverage by 40%. Do we want this?
Continuing our current level of police protection will cost the
owner of a $200,000 home less than $14 per mon th.
As a former mayor, local business owner, and former reserve
police officer, we urge you to vote YES for local police.
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| REBUTTAL OF STATEMENT AGAINST |
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Police levies are a reality with Carnation’s limited business tax
base. Passing this levy will continue our current 2.5 officers
directly serving Carnation. Many citizens are concerned we don’t
have enough police presence now. Do you want to risk significantly
slower response time during an emergency with only 1 fulltime
officer?
Do not allow our police services to be reduced by 40%. Vote
YES for local police to continue our current police coverage.
STATEMENT PREPARED BY: David H. Hunter, Eric Torrison,
William Paulsen
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| STATEMENT AGAINST |
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If you are tired of carrying on the “tradition” of paying for
essential services by “special levies,” now is the time to change
that.
Think of this levy in terms of your own budget. If your expenses
exceed your revenue you look for ways to cut back expenses.
The same should be true for essential city services. Instead of
funding officers and a supervisor in Carnation at certain times of
the day the contract could easily be reduced so that King County
officers respond to calls for service when needed. Spending less
money likely won’t be noticeable in service.
Police services should be essential services funded by the
taxes already received by the City. Let’s start a new tradition,
staying within budget. Police services should NOT have to be
funded by special levies.
This levy will cost you $162 on an average home value of
$200,000.
Vote NO on this levy and let’s buy only what we can afford.
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| REBUTTAL OF STATEMENT FOR |
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If you don’t see enough police presence now, why would you
want to throw more money at it to maintain status quo? If we had
40% less coverage, would you notice the difference?
The reality is, we don’t have a local police anymore. It’s time to
end the mentality of “but we did it that way for years” and do it right.
Fund it through normal budget revenues.
Vote NO on this EXCESS levy.
STATEMENT PREPARED BY: Steve Osterday
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NOTE: The Division of Records and Elections is not authorized
to edit statements, nor is it responsible for their contents.
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