Battle Ground has more traffic than ever and our roads are falling apart. The only explanation seems to be that we have no money to fix South Parkway or address the traffic issues along Main Street. In my opinion, we don’t have a revenue problem, we have a priority problem.
Just several years ago, during good economic times, we saw the city sitting on millions in budget reserves (about 35 percent of the total budget). Since then, it has dwindled down to around 15 percent. We’ve seen a defunct water reclamation project cost the taxpayers $750,000. We’ve seen a brand new community center, a brand new flex-use building, and a new take-home vehicle for the city manager (in lieu of a gas allowance). Why do our mayor and city council always seem to forget about South Parkway?
To us, the taxpaying citizens, we see the city struggling to take care of what we have but no problem finding ways to pay for new things. Where are the priorities? If not now, when are we going to start setting aside money specifically for fixing South Parkway? I think that’s a fair question.
Mike Dalesandro
Battle Ground
