UPlace: We can't afford a metro park district

Do residents think the City of University Place will reduce their taxes by the amount they will be asked to pay for the metropolitan park district levy? Wrong. This is another end-around tax increase for the city as it will use the money currently for parks elsewhere.

Voters wisely rejected last year’s “police” levy attempt to do the same thing.

University Place residents pay almost $17 per $1,000 of assessed value of their homes - about $5,000 a year on a $300,000 home. A Mercer Island resident in the same home would pay $8.36 per $1,000, or about $ 2500 a year.

Yes, we pay double the rate that Paul Allen does. Do we get twice the service?

The City Council hopes that by making services “a la carte” that people will pass large levies, as they did with school and fire, and not notice the combined total they pay.

Oh, and there is that $44.6 million in long-term debt.

This story was originally published March 11, 2016 at 4:01 PM with the headline "UPlace: We can't afford a metro park district."