How should University Place residents vote on Prop 1? Here are the arguments to consider

Argument in favor of Proposition 1

By Steve Worthington

Public safety is the number one priority for the University Place City Council, and based on resident surveys and feedback it is a priority we all share.

That’s why the council voted unanimously to place Proposition 1 on the November ballot to support increased funding for the U.P. Police Department. The proposal, if passed, would enable the University Place police to hire additional staff to address citizens’ concerns regarding public safety.

The council’s vote followed several community listening sessions, during which more than 100 community members attended in person and another 900 online viewers visited the police department’s webpage. Our goal was to give residents, business owners and the broader community an opportunity to learn, ask questions and view our public safety data for themselves. We appreciate the level of engagement the public has shown and people’s willingness to engage and help us shape our public safety agenda.

Throughout the summer we heard loud and clear that residents of University Place want more officer availability and visibility, increased staffing to address the spike in property crime and an emphasis on traffic and neighborhood safety.

University Place currently has one of the lowest officer-to-citizen ratios in the state of Washington, and our officers also handle a higher-than-average number of calls for service than neighboring jurisdictions. This reduces the opportunity for proactive policing, including follow-up investigations, traffic enforcement, neighborhood patrols and community engagement.

The University Place Public Safety Levy would address these issues by allowing your police department to:

• Hire 10 additional law enforcement officers and two community outreach specialists trained to address non-emergency situations.
• Provide dedicated traffic safety enforcement, serious crime investigations and coordination with the Pierce County Sheriff’s office and other regional law enforcement.
• Add capacity for engagement with vulnerable individuals — connecting people to services — freeing police to focus on crime prevention and response.

There are three areas of improvement these staffing changes would address. The first involves police availability and visibility. With only two patrol officers on at a time, the amount of time when both officers are tied up is becoming more frequent. This means more and more calls are pending for longer periods of time. An increased amount of police visibility also will enhance community safety.

The second involves our capacity to address growing crime in our community. Adding to our investigations staff will help address the property crime challenges and increase accountability for lower-level crimes.

Lastly, as noted above, the addition of one or two non-commissioned staff in our police department would help focus our patrol officer’s time on more pressing issues, while providing critical functions at a much lower cost than a commissioned officer.

Right now, every dollar you pay in property taxes to University Place is dedicated to public safety. Prop 1 will add to this dedicated fund and will cost the average University Place homeowner around $22 a month. Like all city revenues, these dollars will be independently audited for public accountability.

Let’s improve safety and peace of mind in our growing community. Vote YES on Prop. 1.

Steve Worthington was reelected to his third term on the University Place City Council in 2021. The City Council selected him to a 2-year term as mayor in January 2022. The views represented in this op-ed reflect those of the author, and do not represent the views of the City of University Place.

Argument against Proposition 1

By Christopher Getchell and Dennis Flann

Here we go again. The City of University Place is trying to manipulate taxpayers into yet another huge property tax increase, this time through Proposition 1.

Did you know that University Place already has one of the highest property tax rates of any Pierce County city? Yet the voters’ pamphlet describes Proposition 1 as costing only a small monthly amount. Maybe they’re afraid that if they discuss the true amount — roughly $264 a year on a $524,870 home — it will shock people. When was the last time you saw a home for sale for that amount in University Place?

Remember, Proposition 1’s proposed increase of $0.51 per $1000 of assessed value would be on top of your newly assessed home value for the tax year 2023. Our home values went up roughly 17%. That’s already an increase of almost $1500 in annual property taxes, not including what Proposition 1 would add. If passed, University Place homeowners will be left with substantially larger property tax bills.

Given recent increases in property taxes that have already occurred, where is all the additional tax revenue being spent? Why not on the police? After all, University Place is already poised to collect more from homeowners every month, simply because home values have risen so much.

Another key question about Proposition 1 is what this huge tax increase will really bring the property owners of University Place?

At a recent community event at Curtis High School, two University Place police officers discussed what the tax increase would provide in the way of limiting crime, like addressing property crimes and speeding up police response times. The additional taxes would fund additional police officers — according to proponents 10 of them — but how many would be patrolling University Place at one time? The impact will be small, and while something is better than nothing, does it really take a massive property tax increase to accomplish this? And if this huge property tax increase is approved, when would we really see additional officers on the street?

The extreme politics over the past several years has resulted in hundreds of police officers leaving law enforcement. Pierce County law enforcement is not exempt from this troubling trend. We have heard comments that the Pierce County sheriff’s department is stretched so thin officers may not be available to provide University Place with additional resources until additional officers are hired and trained. This may be years, but the citizens will be paying anyway.

How long will this property tax increase last? Forever. Will it go up? We can almost guarantee you that once passed, it will. We can’t believe how much our property taxes have increased over the last few years. Where is all that money going?

Now, if Proposition 1 passes property tax bills will go up hundreds of dollars more. Being senior citizens on fixed incomes, along with inflation, gas and grocery prices shooting through the roof, we wonder if it will ever end, or at least slow down?

We hope the citizens of University Place will see this huge property tax increase in addition to the cost of their newly assessed value for what it is, and what it will cost them.

We urge residents to vote no on Proposition 1.

Christopher Getchell is a University Place resident of 29 years.

Dennis Flann is a University Place resident of 41 years.