Vote no on bloated Mercer Island maintenance building bonds to get a more reasonable request

Vote NO on the bloated Mercer Island maintenance building bonds to get a more reasonable request. There is a pattern with Mercer Island bond and levy issues. Staff and citizens are asked to propose an unconstrained wish list that voters eventually reject. In response to rejection, a more reasonable bond or levy request is proposed and passes, or additional funds aren’t needed. I was involved in city issues starting in 1997 and participated in the following bond and levy issues:

(1) In November 1998, the City proposed a $19.5 million bloated bond issue for a regional community center. Islanders wanted no more than a city community center, so the bond issue that needed a 60% vote was defeated with only about 34% of the vote (Mercer Island Reporter, 11/4/98 p.1). In response, the City eventually built the current, smaller community center in 2004 without a voted bond issue, using about $8 million in capital reserve funds and $5 million in current and future real estate excise taxes (Mercer Island Reporter, 6/30/04, p.A4).

(2) The Mercer Island School District (MISD) created the Twenty-First Century Facilities Planning Committee (21CFPC) that proposed a $196 million bond issue in April 2012 to demolish and rebuild most of the schools. I pointed out at the time that two of the five School Directors weren’t demolishing, but rather were remodeling their own houses, which was far less expensive. The bond issue needed a 60% vote, but was rejected 41% to 59% (Mercer Island Reporter, 4/25/12, p.1). In response, MISD proposed a $99 million bond issue that remodeled the elementary schools, expanded Islander Middle School and MIHS, and built Northwood Elementary, which passed with 74% in February 2014 (Mercer Island Reporter, 2/19/14, p.1).

(3) In November 2018, the City proposed a permanent levy lid lift that would have provided an additional $3.5 million dollars a year for general purposes or $70 million over 20 years. City officials claimed that Mercer Island quality-of-life would be damaged if the levy didn’t pass. The levy needed only a majority vote, but Islanders rejected the levy 43% to 57% (Mercer Island Reporter, 11/14/18, p.1). Without the levy, not only did Island quality-of-life not suffer, but the City created enough surplus to acquire an additional building next to City Hall.

My point is that our City and School District political leaders often ask for more than they need. What do they have to lose? When Islanders reject the overblown proposals, city and district leaders either propose more reasonable projects or make do with the considerable funds they receive without voter approval.

For information on why the $103 million maintenance building bond issue is unreasonably high, please see www.miforss.com. If this bond issue is rejected by Islanders, it is certain, based on experience, that the City will be back with a much less expensive proposal.

Ira B. Appelman,

Mercer Island