Vote for MickHager
Supporters of Port Townsend’s current mayor insist that she should have another term for her accomplishments in climate change preparation and emergency management.
However, those are not responsibilities in the mayor’s job description.
Furthermore, how can her supporters declare success in mitigating climate impacts when much of our city’s recent debt has been incurred at sea level?
Water Street and the Visitors’ Center are least likely to remain above a rising sea and yet millions of dollars of infrastructure funding have been spent there.
Wouldn’t we be better served to plan our future and spend our limited dollars at a somewhat higher elevation?
The money spent at sea level is money generated by refinancing general obligation debt.
It’s like refinancing a mortgage to get a better interest rate but then making it a home equity loan and spending that equity-derived debt on more debt to match grants for low-priority projects.
But that equity belongs to all of us taxpayers, not just the businesses on Water Street, and if we are spending debt dollars, they should be spent more equitably.
That debt is primarily councilmanic, so citizens didn’t get a vote, council just decided to do it.
Councilmanic funds are generally intended for emergencies.
If we have an earthquake or other disaster, we’ve already spent our emergency funds on non-emergencies.
Join me to vote for Monica MickHager, who has balanced her own budget for 30 years as owner and manager of a small business.
The emergency we must manage now is our debt.
Deborah Jahnke,
Port Townsend