by Ralph Nichols

Burien City Council members sharply rebuked Initiative 1033 at their meeting Monday night (Oct. 5th) and voted 3-1 to oppose the tax-limitation measure that appears on the November ballot.

Mayor Joan McGilton and Councilwomen Kathy Keene and Lucy Krakowiak voted to oppose I-1033. Councilman Gordon Shaw voted no. Although he offered no comment before casting his vote at this week’s meeting, Shaw spoke in support of I-1033 at their Sept. 28 session.

Deputy Mayor Sue Blazak and Councilwomen Rose Clark and Sally Nelson were absent.

According to the ballot measure summary, I-1033:

“…would limit growth in state revenues … and limit growth in county and city revenues. The limit would be adjusted based on annual growth in inflation and population…. The limit would exclude voter-approved revenue increases. Revenues above the limit would reduce property tax levies.”

“I’m very concerned,” McGilton said in reference to I-1033.

Keene said, “This initiative raises grave concerns for me, not only because of what it will do to our city but what it will do to the school district, the county and the state…

“It’s ill conceived in my humble opinion. There’s going to be some draconian cuts on all sides” if I-1033 passes.

She added that while “proponents say it eliminates waste in city government, I don’t see the waste that those who haven’t read the (city) budget see in it.”

Tim Eyman, the primary sponsor of I-1033, the latest in a series of statewide tax-limitation initiatives he has placed before Washington voters, disagreed with the opposing arguments.

I-1033 is intended to produce greater “fiscal discipline” on the part of local and state governments, he told The B-Town Blog. “They’ve got to have it now” in the midst of the current recession. “Now’s the most critical time, and they’re arguing that this is the worst time.

“The only way they can take more money (under this initiative) is to ask the people’s permission, not by making the economy worse by raising taxes.”

Eyman added that if government thinks it has it tough in the current economy, government needs to remember what it’s like to be a taxpayer. “Government is the most dangerous now because they’re thinking from their perspective. Desperately needed is fiscal discipline.”

Since 2007, The B-Town Blog is Burien’s multiple award-winning hyperlocal news/events website dedicated to independent journalism.

6 replies on “Burien City Council Members Sharply Rebuke Tim Eyman’s I-1033”

  1. Spread the word and tell people to vote NO on Eyman’s latest scheme to pick your pockets for the wealthy. Because I-1033 is really a wealth transfer scheme, taking tax dollars paid by renters and others without property and using it to help pay the property taxes of the wealthy.

    Here are some of the things your tax dollars go for now:

    educating our children
    providing health care for seniors and children
    mental health services
    repairing roads and bridges
    keeping parks and libraries open
    paying for police and fire protection
    paying for courts and jails
    cleaning up Puget Sound
    providing clean water and clean air
    sidewalks and bike paths
    affordable public transit
    emergency services
    services for seniors and disabled
    and the list goes on.

    But here is what your tax dollars above Eyman’s recession level will go for if I-1033 passes:
    paying property taxes
    That’s all.
    No restored or new public services.

  2. Nonsense.

    We are in a recession. Eyman’s bill is right on. You do not raise taxes during a recessions, period. We have 17% unemployment in this country (including all of the people that the government doesn’t want to count who stopped looking), and capping tax increases is the right thing to do.

  3. tim I-man is a master of the cheap shot. It is so easy to say cut taxes, cut the fat, make government more efficient, etc. You don’t have to jprovide real solutions. The result is a mass of situations like our ferry system. His $30.00 car tab initiative (don’t we all feel rich on the money we saved?) slashed the ferry budget and they were told to make do without cutting service. It sounded good. The only choice was deferred maintenance and keeping old boats. Suddenly several are forced out of service by the Coast Guard inspectors and no one remembers the initiative, they blame the ferry managers.
    Like Bush’s tax cuts, he helps the rich but screws the average worker while claiming to save him money.

  4. Another example of why I am a libertarian rather than a conservative.
    For sure I do not want a more efficient government.

    I agree with Will Rogers when he said:
    Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re paying for.

  5. In response to Frumpledorf’s comment… This is NOT about raising taxes it is about recapturing the revenue we once collected. As the economy has tanked and people have lost their jobs or had their hours cut they have quite spending money…logical. The result is the city’s sales tax revenue is down. In normal times as the economy picks up, people go back to work and begin to spend money again, the city’s sales tax revenue goes back up. This allows us to replenish our rainy day fund, and restore services that were cut. Under 1033, as sales tax revenue goes back up that money goes to lower property taxes. It guarantees that we’ll be stuck in a 20% reduction of services forever…. unless, of course, the economy tanks even further then our base line goes down again.

    This also applies to state revenue so the $9 BILLION deficit will continue and the cuts to schools, public health, health care for children, senior home care programs, infrastructure funding, Ecology, roads, etc. will be locked in place. It will be impossible to increase the rainy day fund, unless we cut school funding, etc. even further. Mr.. Zemke’s list list just a few programs we hold dear.

    Please vote NO on I-1033,

    Thank you.

  6. This is just another effort for Tim Eyman to line his own pockets with money from his wealthy sugar-daddies like Michael Dunmire, folks who will benefit BIG by shifting the burden of paying for government services away from property tax and towards sales tax.

    I particularly object to Eyman using a statewide initiative to micromanage the finances of cities and counties around the state. Even if 1033 fails in King County and in Burien (as it likely will), both of those jurisdictions will be bound by its restrictions in spite of the wishes of the majority of the voters! Shouldn’t we let our local elected officials make decisions without the restrictions imposed on them by a greedy jerk in Mukilteo?

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