Are there any responsible adults in the Washington state Legislature?
The looming special session must address a massive budget hole in education, plus capital and transportation needs. But let’s not fill this hole simply with dollars “borrowed” from budgets that are barely able to serve their purposes now. Such false economy simply turns small problems into larger ones in the long run.
Responsible adults deal with this regularly. A fender dent needs fixing rather than waiting until rust erodes an entire paint job. Obliterating blackberry seedlings prevents having to bulldoze bushes in a few years. Governments have similar patterns. Prudent budgeting for systematic forest and brush thinning should help diminish costs of larger, more destructive wildfires. Timely, strategic road maintenance saves more costly repairs required after years of neglect.
Please, legislators, don’t raid minimally adequate budgets (e.g., social services, mental health, environment) that will leave behind growing problems for the future. A few short-term savings? Perhaps, but surely not billions. Do protect the lowest income earners by all means, but I shall applaud courageous legislators who propose progressively tapping businesses and higher income earners — even me — for additional resources.
We simply must be willing to pay for the things Washingtonians need.
Sylvia Thornburg
Vancouver
