Vote NO on Proposition 1: Why $103M Public Safety and Maintenance Facility Bond Is an Overreach for Taxpayers

A rigorous examination reveals the City of Mercer Island’s proposed design is one of excessive overreach. The proposed building is almost twice as big as the previous footprint. Covered storage-space is 4.7 times greater than the current area. Office space is proposed to be 47% larger than the existing space, yet many more employees work remotely. The police vehicle capacity is set to expand 50%? Yet, estimated population growth since 1990 is less than 1% per annum, and student enrollment is expected to decline. The City is assembling loads of unneeded capacity at a huge and avoidable cost to taxpayers.

The proposed $103,000,000 bond with interest will cost Island Taxpayers $174,000,000. For the 2025 median assessed valued home of $2,000,000, that represents a 46% annual increase in City Property Taxes, or $660/year. Over 25 years that’s additional taxes of almost $19,000.

Right-size the project to today’s needs. Our analysis documents the design is much larger than necessary. As we pointed out in 2018, there are financing decisions that can minimize the tax burden by taking advantage of the City’s $100M Total Fund Balance. A balance that has increased 164% over 10 years even while the City’s expenses have increased 122% over the same 10 years. Meaning, the City has increased fund balances while also rapidly increasing expenditures! It’s a great business model except for the taxpayer.

The City’s financials list $37M in “available funds” with arguably another $15M in funds exceeding “minimum balances.” By right sizing the building, we think the City can design a facility that exceeds the public’s expectations, provides excellent facilities for our maintenance and police personnel while increasing future flexibility to adapt to our mature Community.

Vote NO on Prop 1. Vote to right-size the building.