Tim Eyman's riches to rags initiatives

The prospect of another Tim Eyman-led initiative may be a blessing to taxpayers, but it has the old feel of a coup de grace for small cities and counties.

Initiative 864, which seeks to reduce state property tax revenues by $550 million per year, is either a catastrophe in the making or the one true solution to the high property tax rates in Washington, depending on who you ask.

Voters in the state are not entirely unfamiliar with this dichotomy. Back in 2001, Eyman's Initiative 695 and the piece of legislation that took its place when the courts declared the initiative unconstitutional, appealed greatly to the masses by offering, and later establishing a low, flat rate on license plate tabs for private vehicles.

Such appeal nosedived among fiscal authorities in rural Washington, who saw in the initiative a massive loss in revenue, and the subsequent cause for a litany of layoffs, project abandonments and cutbacks.

That same dichotomy awaits the constituent as Eyman has begun to collect signatures for his latest crusade. On one hand, the Mukilteo businessman hails I-864 as an effective and overdue way of taking government to task for the skyrocketing tax rates.On the other, city and county officials use words such as "catastrophe" and "disaster" when talking about the initiative.

There are valid points for either position. Nationwide, property taxes have escalated at a pace higher than inflation, and the state has not been a stranger to this phenomenon.

One of Eyman's main points of argument is the increase in Washington property taxes from $1 billion in 1980 to nearly $6 billion in 2003, without adjusting these figures for inflation. According to the Economic History Services Web site, a 1980 dollar is the equivalent to $2.30 today. Adjustment or not, the hike is undeniable.

Conversely, losing the property tax revenue would be an major blow to the already shaky finances of small towns. For example, the Grant County Assessor's office predicts cuts that range from $744 in Hartline to $638,000 in Moses Lake, a dent big enough to put in serious jeopardy the city's entire parks and recreation department.

With an economy on the mend, it is tempting for all of us to take the easier road to a sturdier wallet and vote indiscriminately for tax cuts, without thinking of the consequences.

However, this time, one must think beyond numbers and ask what is more important: weathering the storm of an ailing economy while living in safer, cleaner neighborhoods, or enjoying a fleeting source of additional income while living in a decaying metropolis

Permanent safety should not become the price to pay for temporary riches.