Guest View

By Frank Yamamoto

Chair, Economic Development Commission

Three hundred twenty-four dollars per year.

That is how much more you and your household are going to have to pay by the end of this decade in additional taxes to the city of Edmonds every year just to keep the same services we have now, if nothing changes. Three hundred and twenty-four dollars per year and climbing.

That figure is 40 percent more than an average Edmonds household now pays in addition to what will be required to pay to county, state, library, port, fire district, school, hospital and water district.    

That is the problem that the Edmonds City Council was facing last year, a large and ever-expanding deficit in the city’s budget. With no real solution in sight, the Council formed the Citizens Economic Development Commission (CEDC) to make recommendations to help alleviate this pitfall. 

The Citizens Economic Development Commission, consisting of 17 members, is empowered to advise and make recommendations to the Mayor and City Council and as appropriate to the Planning Commission, Architectural Design Board or other Boards or Commissions of the City. 

The Commission may make recommendations related to 1) determining new strategies for economic development within the City of Edmonds, 2) identifying new sources of revenue for consideration by the City Council, 3) improving commercial viability and 4) tourism development.

Communities like Edmonds are realizing that there is no such thing as a ”static” or fixed economy, local economies are always changing.

We need economic development because economic prosperity and development increase wealth and the standard of living for many who live and work within the City of Edmonds and is a key component of quality of life. Economic development in Edmonds must be accomplished with the values of the city and its citizens in mind and what better source of guidance with these matters are the citizens themselves. 

With that, the CEDC will be making its first presentation to the City Council on Tuesday January 19.  While the Commission has been meeting for a relatively short time, it has developed recommendations for City Council action in 2010. The Commission recognizes that the sooner the city gets started on improving its revenues, the lower our future tax increases will be. We do not want to be paying 40 percent more for property taxes at the end of the year. There are alternatives, but the City Council has to act now.

The citizens of Edmonds are invited and encouraged to attend the City Council meeting at 7 p.m. on January 19 to hear the Commission. The full report will be on line.