In an article in the July 16 edition of The Reflector newspaper, page A7, Clark County Environmental Services Director Don Benton attempted “An explanation of proposed new fees and fee increases.”
In paragraph 7, Benton states: “A major condition of the settlement (of the federal lawsuit for non-compliance with our National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit) is that money to pay for the settlement ($3.6 million) must come from a source other than our existing clean water fee.”
In paragraph 11 Benton further states: “All ratepayers will pay an additional $5 to cover the legal settlement.” This is the kind of political double-speak we have accepted since the clean water fee, a tax in disguise, was added to our annual property taxes.
Benton’s political double-speak policies are quite in line with his fuzzy math.
Hal Kilbourne
Hockinson
