The Port of Vancouver: jacking up your taxes for decades without your say-so!

The Port of Vancouver has this odd ability that no other local government agency seems to have.

They can jack up your taxes... without asking!

We know the state can do it... the past session proves that.

We also know that local officials lost their collective minds over I-695, the first of the Legendary Eyman initiatives (Which was the FIRST demand of the people to lower tag fees to $30 per year... while requiring a vote for all tax and fee increases) which, even though passing overwhelmingly, was tossed out by the courts.

We know that when then Rep. Marc Boldt introduced legislation actually requiring the voter's permission to have ports jack up their taxes… port commissioners around the state in general and in Vancouver specifically lost their collective minds.

Now, the Port Commissioners will be ignoring the will of the people, going through a sham process before the nail us with another increase… much like the Legislature ignored the clearly expressed will of the people with their sham, worthless, election reform.

Here we have Port Commissioners… beholding to, essentially no one, nailing us all with a huge tax increase with no real public discussion, no way for the public to vote and, most importantly, no way for the people to derail this plan.

HEY! I KNOW! Let’s all go down to Port Commissioner Arch Miller’s daughter’s rent-free restaurant at the Grant House and celebrate this underhanded BS! Since we’re taxpayers, maybe we can celebrate this abrogation of public responsiveness with some more taxpayer-subsidized food!

Is EVERYBODY HAPPY?

The next time the media is looking for reasons why people don’t vote… don’t care… don’t get involved… they don’t have to look much farther then this sorry episode.



In Our View: Taxes in the Night

Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Columbian editorial writers

Despite assurances there is no "end around" maneuver on the public process, the Port of Vancouver's dark-of-night tax proposal has caught many people off guard.

It's likely that most of the 300,000 affected property owners in the Vancouver area were surprised to read in Sunday's Columbian of the port commission's apparent desire to vote on the tax plan at its May 24 meeting, one week from today. The meeting will be at 9:30 a.m., a time inconvenient to most residents, at 3103 Lower River Road in the port's administration building.

Just because the port has legal authority to implement an Industrial Development District tax without a public vote doesn't mean it should. And the Port of Vancouver Board of Commissioners Arch Miller, Nancy Baker and Bob Moser should not do it this time under these circumstances.

Approval of the surprise tax would double the amount of port district taxes paid annually on assessed property. Taxes on a home assessed at $200,000 would jump from $88 per year to $178. The proposed six-year levy would be in addition to existing port taxes of 44 cents per $1,000 of home valuation.

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