Many good reasons to vote no on Proposition 1
GUEST EDITORIAL
As chairman and spokesperson of the committee for SAVE (Securing A Voice in Elections), I appreciate this opportunity to state some of the committees concerns about changing our form of government here in Grant County. This proposition will be called Proposition 1 on your ballot, which you will be receiving shortly in the mail.
The proponents of this proposition, called themselves, "The Committee For Council Manager Form Of Government," in their petition presented to the Grant County commissioners to start this process. They have done little, if any, homework on the impact this has had on the six counties that have done this in Washington State since 1948.
The proponents claim that this will be a more efficient type of government. They also claim that the county needs a review. Both of these statements are without any supporting facts that there is a need for this change or review. It is simply the desire of a handful of people to gain control of the county government. They won't talk about the real facts that have been put to them in the public forum process. Let's look at some of the real facts.
1. Seventy-four percent of the Grant County general fund budget goes to fulfill the requirements handed down to Grant County by the state and federal government. This leaves only 26 percent of the budget that the county commissioners have say over. What is the 74 percent that is dictated by law? Most of it is the cost of the law and justice system. This includes the court system, prosecuting attorney's office, jail system, indigent defense for those who can't pay an attorney, and the state auditors, who send the county the bill when they come each year to audit every department in the county. It also represents the costs that the county had dumped on it by the cities in the county. The cities no longer have prosecuting attorneys, jails, judges, court room costs and the very expensive indigent defense costs. The cities pay the county nothing for all these costs they have dumped on the county. The county is also saddled with mental health costs and alcohol rehab as well as other county agency costs even though 50 percent of the people live in the cities. This is just some of what represents the 74 percent of the general fund budget.
2. Now let's look at new costs. Even if the new proposed five member board of county commissioners is paid less then the current cost, we are being asked to add a whole new layer of county government. This new layer is called the executive branch and will be headed up by a new county executive and a new staff. If you look at what other charter counties are paying their managers, $175,000 and up is the price, plus their staff, office expenses and travel expenses etc. We could be easily looking at a new county layer of government that would need a budget of $300,000 per year or more. Where would this money come from? The only place it can come from is the remaining 26 percent of the budget. The county, by state law, cannot collect more then $1.80 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. When I was a county commissioner 20 years ago, we were collecting the maximum amount and it was the same $1.80 that the county is collecting today. Today, 74 percent of this $1.80 is tied up by state law in the law and justice system. This leaves only about 47 cents to run the rest of the county. That would have to include any new layers of government brought on by changing to a charter form of government. How would we pay for this added cost?
3. What else do we lose? The proponents want to change all the current elected officials to appointed positions or at least nonpartisan positions. These appointments would be made by the county executive. What the proponents, who want this change, are really saying is that the people of Grant County are not smart enough to elect qualified people to the courthouse. There is a movement in this county to take voting rights away from the people. The cities in Grant County used to have many of the same elected offices that we have in the courthouse today. They have all been taken away. The only choice that people who live in the cities in Grant County have anymore is who the city council members will be. A few cities still have an elected mayor. Voting has been a part of our American heritage since 1776. Yes, we as a people have been fooled and have elected some knotheads to public office but we have had the chance to correct ourselves in the next election. We still have the power of the vote. How do we get rid of a bad department head who is appointed? We won't be able to. They will become embedded in the system the same way we can't get rid of a bad schoolteacher. We the people, who pay the bills in the form of taxes, will lose all say in the staffing of our county government. Voting is an embedded essential part of the American success. The system puts the power in the hands of the people. When the people lose the power to elect their public officials they lose control of their government and their own destiny. The fact that the county executive will make all the problems go away is an expensive, foolish pipe dream. The last four years at the Grant County PUD has not been a real bed of roses. The PUD is presided over by five nonpartisan commissioners and an appointed manager who hires all the department heads.
4. What else would this new charter government bring to Grant County? Well one thing is the initiative process. Wow, what's that? Well, every year we are plagued with countless petition drives in this state and a whole list of initiatives on the ballot come election time. This will come to Grant County just like it is at the state level. Every special interest group who wants to make a new law or change something that the county government does will be putting an initiative on the ballot for voter approval. If the proponents tell you this won't happen, just call some of the six charter counties and ask how many initiatives they have on their ballots in any given election. One county we contacted said they had 15 on their ballot and that the people are so fed up with the initiative process they would like to get rid of it. That brings up more bad news that the proponents aren't telling us about. If we change our form of government to a charter government and don't like it, we can never go back to what we have now. When this state amended the state constitution in 1948 to allow charter governments they never provided a method to go back so we are stuck. One county has tried to go back but was told by the state Supreme Court that it is not possible.
5. We have heard the proponents claim that by taking the two-party system out of our county government and making all the positions nonpartisan that it will somehow be more efficient. I don't see them pointing at the Grant County PUD as a good example of that. The fact is they have not been able to show any good examples to support that belief. Our country was founded on the political process. We fought a revolutionary war to put the power of government into the hands of the people. If the good people of this country, of this state and this county don't want to get involved in the political process, then bad people will rule. We have a good system of government here in Grant County and it is working. The system that we have can be reviewed for efficiency by the citizens of this county without going through this potentially expensive process. The courthouse is open. We can go there and ask any question we want with our county commissioners, sheriff, auditor, assessor, clerk, treasurer, coroner and prosecuting attorney. Try that with appointed officials who are accountable to a county executive not to you. Try that with a county executive who is accountable to the county council and not to you. Try to get your political party involved in making changes on the county council, which is nonpartisan and not associated with a political party.
6. Nearly every election year we have multiple candidates running for elected offices in the courthouse. Every time a public office holder runs for re-election he or she has to stand on their report card and the public gets to decide on how they have done. People who would like to hold public office have a chance to tell the voters their qualifications for that office. The voters then have a chance to make a decision. The proponents for change to a council manager form of government are trying to convince us that this is inefficient and that we are not getting good qualified people in the courthouse. A review of past city council elections in the county show that all city council positions are nonpartisan. But the surprise was that in 50 percent of the city council positions, where a nonpartisan incumbent was running for re-election, there was no opposition candidate and so there was really no choice for the voters. The percentages of offices with only one candidate are even higher if you look at school board elections, fire district commissioners, port district commissioners and hospital district commissioners. These are all nonpartisan positions in this county. Is it any wonder that we are killing the voter interest in elections when we take politics out of elections? Make everyone nonpartisan, they say, so we can kill all the reasons for people to turn out and vote. If we kill the last venue for partisan politics in Grant County, namely the courthouse, we will kill any interest in voter turnout.
7. The SAVE committee is opposed to Proposition 1, (changing the form of county government), have put up signs around the county, have placed information stuffers in all the local newspapers and have gone to the county forums. We are doing radio spots. We have tried hard to get the facts out to the people. We believe that a well informed voter will make the right decision at the ballot box. We encourage all citizens to exercise their right to vote.
8. There are dozens of facts about the freeholder process and forming a charter government in Grant County that I don't have room to write about here. I encourage the voters to vote no on Proposition 1. It is also very important that even if you vote no that you still vote for the seven freeholders in your district.