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Proponents
By Shamaprasad Bangalore
The options being presented to the voters on the Proposition 1 are:
- To incorporate Fairwood as a city; or
- Not to incorporate Fairwood as a city
That would make one think that by voting ‘No’, the people of Fairwood get to remain unincorporated in King County. However, what the ballot does not indicate, and what incorporation opponents want to hide, is that this is the LAST time that Fairwood gets to make this choice! Failure of Proposition 1 to incorporate Fairwood would immediately trigger actions on the "Red Mill" and "Greater Fairwood Annexations", both of which are already in progress (and were initiated by the same people behind the “Go Vote No” campaign, also known as “Choose Renton”). The "Red Mill" annexation will render any future incorporation of Fairwood infeasible, as the commercial core of Fairwood will have been taken by this annexation within just a few months, without any further voter participation. An election concerning annexation of the remaining area, known as the "Greater Fairwood" annexation, would be held within a few more months.
Let us examine if there’s a good argument for part of the Fairwood community remaining with King County. It’s true that if we remain in unincorporated King County, we could keep the fire services at the current level and could keep our access to the King County Library System. However, can we be sure that we would get to keep our police services or road services at the current levels? Absolutely not! Remaining unincorporated does not guarantee the level of services or quality of life that residents of Fairwood have enjoyed over the years. This is NOT because the Fairwood incorporation area is generating less tax revenue than the expenditures by King County. On the contrary, Fairwood area generates more revenues for the county than the cost of services provided by King County. However, times and priorities have changed. King County has made it clear that they will no longer be able to provide the level of services that urban areas require. That is the responsibility of local city governments, thus King County is requiring unincorporated urban areas to either incorporate or get annexed into nearby cities by 2012.
As is well known, King County is currently running a huge budget deficit of over $55 million in general funds. They have already announced cuts in funding for services. There will be many more severe cuts to other services to make up for the shortfall. It would be naïve to expect that all the cuts would not affect Fairwood. By remaining unincorporated, we will witness cuts to our service levels and experience a degradation of our quality of life as King County reduces our service levels to ‘Rural’ levels. Fairwood residents will not even have a say in these decisions about the spending cuts. This decision would be made by the King County Council for whom Fairwood is definitely NOT a priority. Similarly with a Renton annexation, Fairwood will continue to ‘export’ our tax money to pay for services in other areas of King County. In other words, we would continue to get less and less than what our tax money can buy in terms of services.
As you can see, even the unlikely possibility of only a part of the Fairwood Community remaining in unincorporated King County would have an adverse effect on the quality of life in Fairwood. We will soon see:
- A lower level of police and road services, and/or
- Potentially higher taxes to maintain current levels of services and pay for the deficit.
We can pretend to ignore the certainty of Renton annexation if the Fairwood vote fails, but the alternative of remaining in unincorporated King County has many disadvantages to Fairwood residents in both the short and long term. Thus our choice boils down to two options:
- Fairwood residents being empowered and having a say in deciding on the level of services we want to maintain for the community, and setting priorities for how our tax money should be spent for maintaining our quality of life, or…
- Remain a net exporter of revenue to either Renton or King County without having any say in how our tax money is spent or on the level of services, and suffer degradation in our quality of life.
A ‘Yes’ vote on Proposition 1 is the only alternative to keep our quality of life and our distinct characteristics as the community of Fairwood.
Writer's Bio:
Shamaprasad Bangalore and his wife Mala are 12-year residents of Fairwood. Their two sons attend area public schools. Shamaprasad moved to Seattle area in 1994 and have lived in Bellevue, Renton and Fairwood. They have lived in ‘The Parks’ development in Fairwood for the last five years. Shamaprasad has a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India and works for IBM as a Business Consultant. Mala is a homemaker and is very active in local school PTSAs.
REBUTTAL
Opponents want voters to believe that by voting "no" nothing will change. This is just not true. King County faces a large budget deficit. Either taxes will have to go up or services will be cut. King County has asked the Legislature for authority to levy a utility tax, which has not yet been approved, but might be in the future.
Opponents say King County can’t stop providing services to our area. The truth is they have and will continue to reduce them. Pavement condition reports for our area demonstrate they we are woefully behind other cities in resurfacing our streets, so the Boundary Review Board’s feasibility consultants included a stepped-up resurfacing program in their study. This won’t happen with cash-strapped King County, but could be done by a City of Fairwood, according to the Incorporation Study.
Opponents also say that Fairwood can stay unincorporated. Again, the truth is that this is our last shot at becoming our own city. If Proposition 1 fails at the polls, the "Red Mill" annexation, which has been held in abeyance by the BRB pending the outcome of this election, moves forward. The "Red Mill" annexation would take the commercial area of Fairwood (including Safeway and Albertsons shopping centers, and residential areas to the south and west) without another vote. The "Greater Fairwood" annexation (also been held in abeyance by BRB) would proceed for the remainder of the Fairwood area. Mr. Nelson knows this very well, as he testified before the Renton City Council in support of the Red Mill annexation and is the spokesperson for Choose Renton, which is the proponent of the "Greater Fairwood" Annexation. Voters who think that they can remain within unincorporated King County for very long have been seriously misled by the opponents of incorporation for Fairwood.
Fairwood Incorporation Position Statements
Post Seven: Remain as Unincorporated King County Option
NOTE: Rebuttals for this week's position statement will be posted this Thursday. Find rebuttals following each corresponding position statement. DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!
October 26, 2009
Opponents
By Bryce Nelson
A no vote this November means that we stay unincorporated. Contrary to the assertions of incorporation proponents, King County can’t force us to do anything. The decision whether to annex, incorporate, or stay unincorporated would still be up to us. And while staying unincorporated has its problems, in the end it’ll be a better option than incorporating a new city from scratch that is destined to fail.
So what happens if we vote no?
Service Providers
If we vote no on incorporation, nothing changes. We simply remain a part of unincorporated King County. We’d keep on getting our fire services through Fire District 40, our libraries through the King County Library System, and other services through the other districts (like water and sewer) that presently provide them.
Our schools are unaffected by annexation or incorporation. If you’re in the Kent School District now, you’d be in the Kent School District if we incorporate, annex, or remain unincorporated. The same goes for those who live in the Renton School District.
Service levels
King County can’t stop providing services to its unincorporated areas. By voting no on incorporation, we’ll continue to get police, parks and recreation, human services, and other things presently provided to us by King County.
Contrary to the assertions of incorporation proponents, no firefighters lose their jobs if we vote no on incorporation. Our fire services continue to be provided by Fire District 40, just as they are now. And that’s why your Fairwood firefighters (IAFF Local 864) are against incorporation.
By incorporating, we create a city without services we presently receive, and with higher taxes than we pay as a part of unincorporated King County. We’d have no city parks, no city recreation department, and no city human services funding. These are things that we receive now, as does every other city in the region.
Our roads would be repaired and repaved less often as a city than they are now. As a city of Fairwood, we’d pay more to get less. Why pay higher taxes for lower service levels than what we get right now?
Land Use
If we stayed unincorporated, we would not have to accept drastically increased levels of new home construction here in Fairwood, altering the character of our neighborhoods forever. Incorporation requires 174-190 new homes per year for the city to be financially feasible – a neighborhood the size of Woodside every 2 ½ years, in perpetuity. Remaining unincorporated allows this growth to be spread out across a wider area, rather than directed right here to Fairwood. By remaining unincorporated, we would not have to take on this excessive growth, and crowd Fairwood with subdivided lots, duplexes and triplexes, and large apartment complexes.
Annexation
By voting no on incorporation, we are not forcibly annexed into Renton. Incorporation proponents claimed in 2006 that if we voted no we’d be forced into Renton. It wasn’t true then, and it’s not true now. Any annexation of the greater Fairwood area will only come after a public vote. If you want to stay unincorporated, and don’t want to be a part of any city, you’d continue to have an opportunity to make your voice heard at the polls.
Taxes
Voting no assures that your taxes won’t be increased, as incorporation will result in higher taxes. We’d have to pay a utility tax – something we don’t pay now – costing us hundreds of dollars a year. Since incorporation proponents base a large portion of the city’s revenue on taxes received from the construction and sale of new homes, and there are essentially no new homes being built in Fairwood right now, we’ll likely end up paying higher and higher property taxes to make up for the shortfall.
Other options
By voting no, and remaining a part of unincorporated King County, we keep our options open. It allows Fairwood to have the opportunity to vote whether to annex to Renton. If you’re interested in annexation, the only way to have the opportunity to become a part of Renton is to vote no on incorporation.
Keep Fairwood Fairwood. Vote against paying more to get less. Vote against changing our neighborhoods forever. Vote against incorporation. www.govoteno.org
Writer's Bio:
Bryce Nelson has lived in the Seattle area since '89. He grew up in Redmond and attended Pacific Lutheran University for undergrad and Seattle University for law school. He's been a prosecutor with Pierce County for the last 6 1/2 years and is currently assigned to the Special Assault Unit prosecuting sex and domestic violence crimes. His wife is a teacher at Nelsen Middle School in Renton, and they live in Woodside with their 16 month-old daughter, who he says "keeps us busy and always makes sure the inside of our house looks like a toy store exploded!"
REBUTTAL
Insufficient tax revenues.
It’s simply not logical to argue that Fairwood provides King County with a tax surplus, yet the county is going to cut services to areas like Fairwood because it doesn’t have sufficient revenues to provide an urban level of service. If Fairwood was a tax exporter, the county would try to keep Fairwood part of unincorporated King County, so that it could continue to receive its tax revenues. If King County wants to see Fairwood incorporate or annex, it’s because Fairwood doesn’t have sufficient revenues to cover the cost of providing services to the area. And since that’s the case, we should vote against incorporation, so we’re not stuck with a city that can’t pay for the services that we need.
Last chance to incorporate? No.
Incorporation proponents said in 2006 that it would be our only opportunity to vote on whether to incorporate – that if the vote failed, it wouldn’t be on the ballot again. What happened? We all know – we’re voting once again on whether to incorporate. Nothing would prevent those who want to see Fairwood incorporate as a city from trying again, should we vote no.
Annexation
If we vote no on incorporation, we will have twice said that we don’t want to form a new city. Isn’t twice enough? How many times do we have to say no? If annexation proceeds, it’s because Fairwood’s voters will have made their opinion very clear – they don’t want to form a new city.
Incorporation is the wrong choice, at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons. It was a bad idea in 2006, and it’s a worse idea now. Vote against paying more to get less. Vote against drastically changing our neighborhoods. Vote against incorporation.