Letter to the Editor: Hey Lake Forest Park, Let’s Invest In Ourselves!
Sunday, October 19, 2025
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Lake Forest Park has been our home for decades. Work brought us to other places over the years but, like our salmon, we’ve always returned home to LFP. What brings us back and keeps us here, I suspect, are many of the same things that attracts everyone who lives here or visits – our incredible tree canopy, bubbling streams, windy streets, wonderful neighbors, welcoming Town Center and Third Place Commons, small town sensibility, great schools, beautiful parks, a great sense of safety, care for our environment, and an engaged and active community.
None of these features are by accident, of course. They’ve all come about because we value them highly and are willing to pay for them. In fact, maintaining our police department to ensure public safety and security was the number one priority from a recent poll conducted by the city (see survey results). Given that the costs of public safety services have risen dramatically recently, the city placed PROP 1 on the November ballot. It’s a temporary “levy lid lift” because it raises the “lid” on the maximum property tax increase of 1% allowed by Washington state law and it’s temporary because it expires after 6 years. Costing the median household about $18/month, it will raise about $1.2 million/year to help fill the gap between city income and increasing expenditures for public safety services.
I consider this PROP 1 “city levy” just as essential as a “school levy” which I always support. The fact that school levies pass here overwhelmingly tells me that the vast majority of LFP also values education as much as I do. Voting YES on PROP 1 will reiterate a clear message that we greatly value our LFP police, 911, and public safety services and are willing to make additional investment to keep LFP safe, resilient, and financially strong. Please join me and many other LFP residents in voting YES on PROP 1 and let’s invest in ourselves!
For more information, please visit YesOnLFPProp1.com.
Dan Benson
Lake Forest Park
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3 comments:
If you believe that this is a "temporary" lift on the levy lid, you need to wake up. The new funds will get baked into the baseline for the city government and spent. If Prop 1 is passed, in 6 years we will get voting on another prop whose proponents will try to scare voters with dire warnings about slashing services if we don't make the "temporary" levy lid lift permanent.
It's hard to say what the situation will be in six years. We have a system that will allow electeds and residents to figure that out when the time comes. Right now LFP has a $700K annual budget deficit related to the sharp increases in the costs of public safety. We should fix that problem now, before it grows, to keep public safety services at current levels for the next six years.
A tax is never temporary and levy lids never not try to get lifted. Do not let politicians scare you into more taxes. Always vote no to any new tax or tax extension. This is the only way they will learn to allocate funds wiser.
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