Hey, I just got another letter from the nice widow from Nigeria that wants to send me all the money. Then Bill Gates is going to pay me to forward emails for him. They just want access to my bank account first.
Would you fall for that? Most of us want to know what we're buying before we pay. With the park tax, we pay and, sometime later, maybe, learn what we’re bought.
On the topic of parks, just what do you want? Is this the same as what the rest of us want? Over time I’ve heard:
Playing Fields
Community Center
YMCA
Trails
Community Gardens
Museum
BMX Track
Frisbee Golf Course
Dog Park
What do the people of Bonney Lake want to have? Sadly, the answer is “We don’t know.”
That doesn’t stop the push to create a Metropolitan Park District and start taxing us.
Let’s drive a stake through one claim the taxers like to make. That is the: “You’re against parks!” yelp. No we’re not. What we do object to being taxed and not knowing where the money will go. Why not first find out what the taxpayers of the city want for parks, then pass a bond to fund that. Too logical? It is when you look at the list of potential projects (see above) those that believe that their pet project will be funded will support the tax. If enough believe then the tax will pass.
The trick is to keep people believing and not asking too many questions. Here are some questions that do need to be asked:
How much tax money will be raised?
What will be funded first and how much will it cost. (Factoid: a mile of trail runs over a million dollars)
How much will “administration” of this park district cost? (Factoid: Tacoma’s park district spends over 49% of its revenues on “administration”)
What’s it been for communities that embraced these park taxes? (Factoid: Pierce County has dropped their move for a park tax. The money wasn’t there.)
So, next, let’s look at how the tax numbers get added up. Otherwise we can just send that nice widdow in Nigeria some money.
