By Betsy Tainer
Do you believe in Tinkerbell?
The ‘for’ campaign is putting out that the levy for the new University Place Park District would likely by about $0.16/1,000 vs the up to $0.75/1,000 that we would be approving on April 26th. They are also promoting the idea that ALL 5 of the new park commissioners will be working for free and will not take the $10,000/year in compensation that they are entitled to.
Reality check. The Park District will not own or operate the parks, they will simply oversee the recreation programs. The city will continue to own and maintain the parks and facilities and lease them back to the Park District at an undetermined rate until such time as the Park District can/might purchase them from the city and take over their maintenance.
$0.16/1,000 will, without a doubt, NOT pay the leases, when determined, on the 17 parks and numerous facilities needed for all of their programs. The city, fully aware of the new Park District’s debt capacity of $7.9 Million, will push the boundaries and get as much as they possibly can out of that until such time as our Park District is pushing the bounds of solvency and then the city will come up with some other means to squeeze us for more money.
If you believe what the ‘for’ side is saying to you then you believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.
Please vote NO/AGAINST. Please VOTE. Tell you neighbors, your friends. Spread the word. Fight this. It is not the right thing for University Place. It is not the solution to this problem.
Need a ‘no’ sign? Send email request with your name, address and phone so we can coordinate deliver.