The citizens of Clark County suffered another major loss last week as the promises to the people captured by CVTV on Jan. 5 were repudiated by the liberal trio as they abandoned these resolutions that were adopted last year:
• Respect the citizen vote for a toll-free east county bridge
• Task force to advance a toll-free east county bridge
• Task force to advance a toll-free west county bridge
• Respect the citizen vote opposing light rail
• Respect the citizen vote opposing bus rapid transit
• Support toll-free roads and bridges to relieve traffic congestion
• Embrace free market principles on zoning
• Cut unnecessary red tape and cost
The trio told citizens the reason that they repealed all of these policies was so they could collaborate together in work sessions. One Feb. 24 work session was scheduled where the trio did nothing but talk about a future meeting.
The policies were added to last week’s board time meeting. It appears that the trio had not read any of them, nor had they asked for any information.
Council Tom Mielke and I labored to focus on at least one of the resolutions and attempted to read one of them. But the efforts were rebuffed with contempt.
The trio agreed with themselves that they never told citizens they would seriously consider the policies they repealed. They said that perhaps they might consider them sometime in the future. So, all the policies are dead.
If you have high blood pressure, then you shouldn’t listen to them repealing everything in the first disastrous meeting of the year.
Or you can see your government working against you and violating your trust at www.cvtv.org and also view each resolution at www.clark.wa.gov.
So sorry to share such sad news.The “spirit of the charter” is at work.
Quick to spend, slow to save – getting it backwards
Last week was another bipolar day for the Clark County Council. All that work over the last three years of finding savings, lowering costs, paying off inherited debt, improving county services, paying cash for major improvements and building cash reserves – is systematically being undone.
Supplemental budgets are for making minor corrections for unforeseen needs in an already approved two-year budget. Major new expenditures are supposed to wait for the next biennium budget. But the “spirit of the charter” has reversed all that.
The same new three councilors outvoted Mielke and me to spend more than $19 million by the end of the year, reducing fund balance by more than $6 million.
But that was not enough. Another $265,000 for overtime and another $220,000 for administration was also added to general fund expenditures at the last minute to also spend by the end of the year. Even our budget office recommended against those expenditures at our budget work session a month ago.
Those last minute add-ons were not one time. They were commitments to spend every year going forward. We are seeing the consequences of the liberal ideology that grows the size and cost of government with unsustainable spending overrule the conservative principles of limited government that lives within its means.
The supplemental budget had many good adjustments in it that the conservatives supported. But the added pork spoiled the batch. In the end, the $20 million package in new spending was passed by Councilors Julie Olson, Jeanne Stewart, and Marc Boldt while Tom Mielke and I voted no.
That kind of new quick spending and added overhead set the stage for new tax hikes and fee increases that conservatives cannot support.
Citizens were sold a bill of goods that was supposed to improve county government with a new charter form of government with better representation. How’s that working out for ya?
David Madore is a Clark County Councilor.
