In an article in the July 16 edition of The Reflector (page A7), Clark County Environmental Services Director Don Benton attempted “An explanation of proposed new fees and fee increases.”
In paragraph 7, Benton states: ”A major condition of the settlement (of the federal lawsuit for non compliance with our NPDES permit) is that money to pay for the settlement ($3.6 Million), must come from a source other than our existing clean water fee.”
In paragraph 11 Benton further states: “All ratepayers will pay an additional $5 to cover the legal settlement.”
This the kind of political doublespeak we have accepted since the clean water fee, a tax in disguise, was added to our annual property taxes. Benton’s political doublespeak policies are quite in line with his fuzzy math.
Hal Kilbourne
Brush Prairie
