Everett made deep budget cuts; levy lid lift is needed

By Eileen Simmons / Herald Forum

The City of Everett is asking Everett residents for a levy lid lift — Proposition 1 — to maintain and restore services.

I have read several letters to the editor and seen scare-mongering yard signs that suggest if this measure is approved your entire property tax bill would be going up 44 percent. Those against this levy say the city needs to live within its budget and that there are more budget cuts that could be made. I want to encourage you to vote for the levy lid lift.

I have lived in Everett for 26 years and worked for the city for 19 years, first as assistant director and then director of the Everett Public Library. I also served on two structural deficit committees, the first while still an employee and the second as a private citizen. I am currently the president of the Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens, an all-volunteer non-profit that works to make the Arboretum a valuable community asset. During most of those years, the city has been facing a structural deficit. As a private citizen, a city employee, and now a volunteer, I have seen how this deficit affects Everett’s ability to provide needed services to its residents.

When my husband and I moved to Everett, both libraries were open seven days and four nights a week. The library provided bookmobile services to daycares, an outreach van to senior facilities, and employed two local historians. The Parks Department offered an affordable array of indoor and outdoor recreational programs. It operated a swimming pool, an animal farm, and with its horticultural program, it provided attractive, colorful downtown plantings along Mukilteo Boulevard.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/forum-everett-made-deep-budget-cuts-levy-lid-lift-is-needed/