Vote no on levy | Letter
Published 1:30 am Monday, April 13, 2026
When a seemingly innocuous flyer came in the mail promoting yet another levy lid lift (tax increase) I dismissed it as coming from some organization desiring added funding. Looking closer, I noticed that the advertisement came from the County itself, paid courtesy of the San Juan County taxpayers. Using public monies meant for services for a marketing campaign promoting their own tax increase is alarmingly unethical.
Hardworking residents of our county were involuntarily forced to pay both for a costly special election that could have waited until the next regular election cycle as well as funding a one-sided endorsement for this large permanent increase.
Information guides included with ballots were sufficient, allowing both sides of the measure the chance to argue for and against. This biased promotion, mailed at taxpayer expense, was written to convince us that San Juan County is underfunded, has done everything possible to cut expenses and that the community will suffer from the cuts that will follow. Quintessential propaganda overemphasizes cuts and losses without a full picture of expenditures.
Fair elections are not possible when our government officials and bureaucrats can use our community funds to print and distribute electioneering propaganda at their unlimited discretion
Those that may be opposed cannot compete with that level of funding. In my opinion, this walks the dangerous line of election interference at worst and deceitful, unprincipled policy at best.
Good intentions left unchecked have led to an insatiable entitlement for more and more tax money, treating property owners like personal ATMs rather than responsibly scrutinizing their own budgets and making difficult decisions necessary to live within their means. Their constituents have to do that every day.
I am no budget expert, but observationally, it appears that for years, our County officials have freely spent public monies justifying property acquisitions, added personnel, extra funding to departments, full pay for part-time work, and funding social services historically performed by non-profits.
Now finding themselves in a deficit, they want us to turn ever-growing portions of what we work so hard for over to the black hole of government, where questionable spending decisions occur and residents lose control of where our taxes go.
Lauren Cohen
Friday Harbor
