SEQUIM — Candidates for a seat on the Clallam County commission disagreed on using tax increases to balance the county’s projected $2.7 million budget deficit during a forum earlier this week.
Jim McEntire, a Sequim Republican who serves on the Port of Port Angeles commission, opposes raising taxes outright.
His Sequim Democratic opponent, Linda Barnfather, said she would consider a tax increase “when things are at the critical level,” such as when the county jail is jammed or for services that help the poor and homeless.
Barnfather, a former legislative assistant for Sequim Democratic state Rep. Kevin Van De Wege and a Sequim native, said she wants to live in a county that has dependable public services and is a safe place to live.
The two seek to fill the seat now held by Sequim Democratic Commissioner Steve Tharinger, who is leaving to focus on his position as a lawmaker in the state House of Representative.
They spoke at a candidates forum hosted by Sequim Family Advocates at the Sequim unit of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula on Monday night.
Also addressing the issues before more than 50 attending the forum were candidates for Sequim City Council seats.
Sequim Family Advocates President Michael McAleer, a Sequim real estate agent, conducted the forum.
McEntire, who has served for seven years as a port commissioner, was firm in his position, saying, “Now is not a good time to raise taxes.”
Calling the mid-2000s economic bubble in the county “artificial,” McEntire said, “We need to watch the cost of living in the county very closely now.”
Calling herself a problem-solver with experience in farming and property management, Barnfather said she wanted to bring a balanced approach to running county government, giving equal weight to boosting the economy and protecting the environment.
“I care deeply for all of you and where I live,” she told those at the forum.
Sequim economy
Wireless technology consultant Pete Duncan, who is challenging Sequim City Councilman Erik Erichsen, said he was mainly out to create living-wage jobs in Sequim that pay more than Walmart.
He vowed to go out and look for companies that could relocate to Sequim to bolster employment and promote entrepreneurs such as those that the Sequim’s lavender farming movement has helped over the past 15 years.
“I think it’s important that the council has a voice for young families in Sequim,” said Duncan, 42.
He said he would reach out to local businesses and promote upgrades to Sequim’s fiber-optic infrastructure to attract high-tech workers, such as software developers.
Duncan called for the assessment and possible revision of impact fees in the city.
Incumbent Erichsen, who spoke of his reputation on the council for calling it like he sees it, said the future of Sequim is all about the economy.
“It’s not about the impact fees,” Erichsen said, explaining that the fees were not unreasonable and are intended to make homebuilders pay for the infrastructure needed to serve homeowners.
“It does not cause a problem.”
Sequim City Councilwoman Susan Lorenzen is not running for re-election after the death of her husband.
Running in her place are Candace Pratt and Eric Miller.
Miller did not attend Monday night’s forum.
Running for a return to the Sequim City Council is Mayor Pro Tem Laura Dubois.
John Miller is challenging Dubois.
Sequim Mayor Ken Hays, who is unchallenged, did not attend Monday night’s forum.
Impact fees
Dubois, a budget analyst and financial adviser, explained that impact fees were initiated by the council at the beginning of the recession because the city’s infrastructure could not keep up with the fast-growing decade of the 2000s.
John Miller, a retired Safeway supermarket “numbers cruncher,” as he called himself, warned that impact fees could slow Sequim’s growth more than the recession already has.
“Impact fees affect building,” he said.
John Miller said Sequim was “run economically” by retirees, adding: “I think we are doing pretty well compared to other towns” of 5,000 people or less.
Pratt, a teacher who called herself a one-time “soccer mom,” said she saw a “tremendous” inventory of homes, and it was either the taxpayers or the developers who had to pay the price of improving the economy.
All the candidates voiced support for the Boys & Girls Clubs, but Erichsen stood by his position that he would never support health and human services funding for any charities, including the club.
He said government should not support charities when individuals and private parties can do so.
Dubois voiced support for annexing the Sequim Marine Research Operations for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on West Sequim Bay into the city, saying it would result in 10 new jobs a year for at least 10 years.
Over the next two years, the City Council is moving toward annexation to the area to the bay that would include John Wayne Enterprises’ land holdings for future development near John Wayne Marina, south of the lab, which would extend water and sewer lines and improve road in what is east of the city limit today.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
