The only necessary service of city government is public safety. Police protection is contracted through King County and paid from the general fund. Fire protection is paid by the taxpayers through their property taxes. Building code enforcement is paid through permits and fees. This leaves us with just streets as the only remaining essential service. All other activities are wants and not needs.

Streets should be paid for from the city operating budget. There are structural changes which can be made to the budget to accomplish this. Contracting out for law enforcement, municipal court and legal services is a frugal and careful use of tax dollars. There are other areas of the budget where this is not the case. Contracting out or privatizing certain jobs would be in the taxpayer’s interest. Then that could put the budget on a sustainable path. For the size of Covington, which has less than 18,000 people, the employees are compensated as if this was a larger population with a larger tax base.

State law allows the city to collect a 6 percent utility tax without voter approval. The wording of the city ordinance allows the city to collect a rate of 6.65 percent. Also, Covington collects the utility tax on its own surface water management department. We are not always told the whole story about taxation.

Increasing the sales tax to fund the Transportation Benefit District not only cost residents more but will affect the competitive advantage of local businesses. If the TBD is funded, it will probably never be allowed to expire. Also, the city might use this model to pay for other things that the citizens may not want to pay for.

Philip Jones

Covington