For nearly a decade, Snoqualmie held local taxes down by reducing staff, delaying investments, and increasingly limiting its capacity. Residents weren't given the opportunity to decide whether continuing to reduce City service levels was preferable to having the City's property tax keep pace with inflation. Instead, the City reduced service levels over time. That approach helped minimize additional local tax impacts, but it also reduced the City's ability to provide the level of services it had previously provided.

I believe we have now reached the point where continuing that approach will require reductions to visible, day-to-day City services. That is why I am recommending that the City Council place this question before Snoqualmie voters.

Since the City's last voter-approved levy increase took effect in 2017, inflation has significantly increased the cost of providing City services. During that same period, the Snoqualmie Valley School District and King County each asked voters to raise property taxes to keep pace with rising costs. Snoqualmie did not. Instead, the City reduced staffing, delayed investments, and reduced service levels.

This year's budget is different. The end of the North Bend police partnership eliminated about $700,000 in shared police funding and about $1.2 million in anticipated additional annual revenue that would have helped offset inflation. Continuing the City's previous approach now would increasingly affect services residents see every day, such as police response times, proactive patrols, responses to non-emergency calls, fire and emergency response, park maintenance, community events, street maintenance, permitting, facility reservations, and other day-to-day City services.

For many years, those reductions occurred largely behind the scenes. In recent years, however, they have increasingly affected the City's ability to consistently provide the services residents rely on. The City has less capacity to effectively advocate for Snoqualmie's interests on major regional issues, including the proposed Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), housing policy, transportation, and proposed developments outside our city limits. Some responsibilities have no staff to work on them at all. Work that helps the City plan ahead, pursue improvements, and prepare for future challenges is often deferred while staff focus on daily operations and legal requirements.

I believe Snoqualmie residents should have the opportunity to decide whether continuing to reduce City service levels or restoring the City's property tax to approximately its 2017 inflation-adjusted level is the right choice for Snoqualmie today. That is the question I am recommending the City Council place before Snoqualmie voters.

Reasonable people may reach different conclusions. My responsibility is to explain why I believe residents should have the opportunity to make this decision and to ensure they have the information needed to do so. Additional information about the City's finances, service levels, and the proposed budget will be shared in the coming weeks as the Council considers whether to place this question before the voters.

James Mayhew
 Mayor, City of Snoqualmie