Letters to the editor

The Editor and good people of Point Roberts:

It is with some sadness that I announce my imminent departure from our tiny, accidental geographic anomaly.

It’s been both an honor and a pleasure to spend the past several months with most of you. You’ve invited me into your lives and helped to make this beautiful place a home for me, although it wasn’t my original intent. Like other kinds of love, connection often forms precisely when you’re not looking for it.

Honestly, I was in a bad personal space when I moved here, blinded by a specific occupational bitterness and personal debts. Somehow, even in the February chill, your kindness and generosity thawed my spirit.

This month, I will be departing Point Roberts as a repaired man, ready to pursue my renewed dream of living among Alaskan fjords, telling fascinating stories about sustainable development and raising a family of my own. If you’d like to see this magnificent place where I’m headed for yourself, drop me a line at brencorn@ gmail.com, and perhaps we’ll smoke some salmon together somewhere along Alaska’s inside passage.

I’d like to offer a special thank you to Bashir Patel, who gave me the first opportunity to work here, as well as Janet Camp, who bent over backwards to help me find my first place to live. Thanks also to Fereydoon “Fred” Pakzad, my co-workers Brett and Gabe at Erickson Bros. Garage, Melissa and Israel at the UPS Store, Scott, Steve, Paulette, Martha and Ding at the marina and Brent, Darlene, Morgan and Sherrill at Point Fuel and Pantry, as well as Linda Bruce, Chwynyn Vaughan, Ray and Patrick at the PR Food Bank, other friends, customers, and all the random characters who turn life on the Point into America’s most entertaining little community that nobody ever heard of (and we like it that way!).

I’m sure I’ll be back to visit you all sometimes when the Alaska ferry docks in Bellingham on occasion.

All who wish are welcome to join me for a goodbye brunch at Saltwater café on Sunday, June 11 from 9 to 10 a.m.

Brennan K. Pürtzer Point Roberts

Hey, Grads! (or their parents)

If you’re graduating from high school or college this June, please let the community know of your achievement. Please send a photo along with a brief description of your plans and dreams and hopes for the future.

Please submit by June 19 by emailing info@allpointbulletin.com. Please be sure that the photos are high resolution. We look forward to receiving your happy news!

Please send letters to editor@allpointbulletin.com

s Brennan Purtzer.

JR Healthcare Consultants Dr. John Anwar MD

Board Certified in Internal Medicine

Learn more at www.jrhealthcareconsultants.org

Call/text 305-877-5497

Email: john.anwar@jrhealthcareconsultants.org

What a 40¢/$1,000 levy lift would look like to fire district finances

Based on fire district assumptions of annual revenue increase of 1.7% and operating expenses of 4% 2023

Beginning Cash & Reserves $989,963

$711,888

Expenses $648,907

Expenses $120,000

Cash & Reserves $932,944 2024

Cash & Reserves $932,944

Fire ...

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In order to raise the district’s levy above the 1 percent allowed annually, it would have to seek voter approval of a levy lid lift of up to six years. To pass, a levy lift requires a simple majority (RCW84.55.050.)

The district could seek a temporary levy lift for 1-6 years for a specific purpose eg. buy a new piece of apparatus in which case the levy would drop down to the former level once the time was up.

It could also ask for a permanent levy lift in which case the district would use the new levy as the basis for future 1 percent annual increase. Additionally, the district could ask voters to approve a set growth factor, for example, the CPI, for years two through six at which level the annual 1 percent increase would apply.

The district could also seek voter approval of a governmental obligation (GO) bond to pay wholly or partially for capital infrastructure. A bond measure requires 60 percent approval from a minimum 40 percent of the number of voters who participated in the last general election. The term of the bond can be no longer than 20 years.

The district could also raise a non-vote approved bond by a vote of commissioners. If they took this route, the maximum they could borrow is 3/8s of 1 percent of the total assessed value of Point Roberts. At the current assessed value of $935,096,921, the maximum the district could borrow would be approximately $3.5 million.

360-945-0337

As people are arriving back to Point Roberts after a long winter, please keep these details in mind:

• Ensure that district employees have access to the water meter box. Customers are responsible for keeping the meter box free from brush, earth or other material/conditions external to the meter which interferes with normal meter reading.

• Please visit this website for more information on this: https://pointrobertswater.com/images/resolutions/500_series/ resolution_538.pdf

• Customers will receive notices via mail and or email about any clearing that needs to happen and will have two weeks to respond or do the work themselves before the district does.

• We prefer to access the meter from the road, and need a 5 foot radius around the box to read effectively.

• The district provides each customer one seasonal on/off service at no charge during normal business hours. We provide this service for your convenience and to ensure that liability for any damage to the meter stop does not fall on the homeowner. A separate shutoff valve on the customer side of the meter is always preferable so you can turn the water off and on as needed.

• Please call the office or email us directly with any questions or concerns: 360-945-4696 or PRWD@whidbey.com

The district essentially has the choice between raising the levy lid or by taking out a GO bond for a period of up to 20 years, or a combination of both. Carleton, who appears to be leaning towards simply raising the lid, presented commissioners with scenarios ranging from collecting an additional $0.20 to $0.50 per $1,000 assessed value of property.

A property worth $500,000 that currently pays $346.73 to the fire district would go to $546.73 annually with a 40¢ increase. A property worth $750,000 that currently pays $520.09 would go to $820.09 annually with a 40¢ increase.

A million-dollar property, currently paying $693.46 a year would see its bill increase to $1,093.46 annually. Those same properties would annually pay $596.73, $895.09 and $1,193.46, respectively with a 50¢ increase.

At the May 22 meeting, commissioner Norm Katz asked Carleton to present even higher levies for consideration at the next meeting. As of May 23, the district had not prepared projections of income and the impact on reserve levels based on the different levy lift levels it is considering.

A financial analysis prepared by the All Point Bulletin using the same assumptions as the fire district (annual increases in income and expenses of 1.7 and 4 percent, respectively) illustrate the hole the district would find itself in if it attempted to fulfill the CFP without a substantial increase in income.

At minimum, the district would need to increase its levy by 40¢ per $1,000 (to $1.09 from $0.69) to end up in 2036 with a positive reserve balance but even then, there would be five years in which the district would theoretically run at a negative balance. However, the district could bridge the gap through re-ordering its schedule of acquisitions or by taking out a GO bond. (The servicing of the loan would need to come from the general fund and is not included in the analysis.)

Comparison with other districts

At its current levy rate of .69345, the Point Roberts fire department’s tax rate ranks 11th among the county’s 13 districts. Fire district # 8 (Marieta) has the highest