I am impressed with the work here and I want to say a few thing about current events in Kirkland. We can no longer rely on the city to give us the straight answer. I have lost lots of respect for those in charge. Because I feel like they are running our ship aground while whistling a delightful tune. They act like they don’t care what anyone outside of their supporters think and that is no way to govern. I voted for 5 of the 7 on the council and I would take back every one of those votes if I could. I didn’t vote for the city manager but if I could he would go too. His arrogance is astounding and he runs the show. The city has had many ups and downs over the years but I can’t remember seeing such a misguided use of our tax dollars with spending programs added every year. Finally the economy slowed and these people got caught with a 12% budget deficit. Think about what would happen to you if you managed a budget like this at your job. You would be fired and you would deserve it too. There is a trick the city uses in it’s budget and it is one time spending. When times are good the extra tax money is spent rather than saved. Now we have many services funded by one time money streams which are drying up. So the city has to cut services and raise taxes to cover for their mismanagement. During good times these people over spent and we are now stuck with the bill. Lauinger, McBride and Greenway are listed as those most responsible for the over spending because they are the finance committee. Mismanaging the budget plain and simple. Every council membr who voted for the last budget is responsible. I don’t know how they voted but it should be public records. I worked closely with Bothel, Kent and Redmond and they have sound responsible budgetting. Does anyone on the finance committee have experience in finance or accounting or degrees or an education or common sense that there dad told them long ago : save your pennys for a rainy day. Don’t over spend.
The costs we will pay for the lawsuit are just the beginning. They will hide what they have done. When you see a council member and he shakes your hand ask him what his priorities are for spending. He will say some nonsense but he really is culpable in allowing the budget to become a noose around our necks. These people don’t know the first thing about budgeting or priorities. If they did we would not be facing a deficit. 12% over spending. That is there job to mind the store for us and they flunked. I can’t afford higher taxes. Fixed incomes dont bend when government overspends now we are going to suffer for there mismanagement. I bet they won’t cut one single job from Kirkland government because that wouldn’t be nice. They don’t care about us tax payers who are angry because they only listen to the people who will vote for them.

Special Budget Edition of City Update & Budget Open Houses
Homes and businesses within Kirkland city limits should have received a special edition of City Update (PDF) dedicated to the 2009-2010 Biennial Budget. To learn more about the challenges facing the City with the upcoming budget, attend an Open House September 17 or 29, 7-9 p.m. See the newsletter or website for more information. Please email 09-10budget@ci.kirkland.wa.us for questions and additional information.

Thank you for your comments. I too prefer to know the name of the person with whom I am conversing, however, I do believe there is a place for anonymity as well. One example would be the roll of a whistle blower not wishing to jeopardize his/her position while trying to do do what is right and expose an injustice.

The downside, of course, is the opportunity to hide behind a moniker to rant and call other names rather than discuss issues.
You may be interested in reading further discussion on this subject at http://www.kirklandviews.com/2008/06/12/anonymity/

Anyway…why doesn’t Kirkland spend some of it’s budget or even some of its surpluses on something that will make them some money?

Why not start with approx. 7 acres on Rose Hill that is being wasted on their illegal storage of storm water on private land? A plan has been presented to drain the land and restore it to the way it was when King County managed it and before it was annexed by Kirkland. Ironically it has recently been rezoned as commercial in order to keep businesses from creeping into the neighborhoods. That land could be making millions in sales tax revenue for the city’s numerous wants and needs.

Right now would be a perfect time to leverage Costco’s desire to use some of the land for their proposed gas sation and keep it near to NE 85th (where the cars are) instead of locating it deep into the Rose Hill neighborhood.

Upward and onward.

Mr. Wall, the city has received increased income for many years…and spent it irresponsibily at times. Why should that be rectified on the backs of the tax payers? I think some cutting will enable some more cautious spending in the future.

Also, if you buy something like a new building, or a new park, there’s not just the one-time cost of acquiring, building, etc., but the ongoing costs of maintaining them year after year. We all know this implicitly (we spend lots of money maintaining our homes, cars, etc. after buying them), but seem to neglect the fact that we all have to pay for what we allow our governments to spend, and while debt may be appropriate for shared benefits that have long-term benefits, debt is just a way for the current residents to benefit from something that others will have to pay later (usually as the original benefit deteriorates over time).