You sure put a lot of work into this, it paints a picture of our current reality. I'm appreciative of you and Jeff for shining a light on such an important topic.
The incessant spending of our Commissioners is a course that needs a change in direction. It's obvious that it does take money to run a county government, when it comes to core services. This environment is like a weekend party house in high school where the cool parents let the kids drink to abandon. No one is acting like an adult with our tax dollars and it's being spent/consumed in a drunken manner.
In the last BOCCC meeting I heard you make a comparison to the types of spending the Commissioners allow that are entirely discretionary, and by adding up just a few what their FTE equivalency was given departments are being told to tighten their belts and layoff employees.
It would be interesting to have the data for the last few years on these discretionary spends to get a better sense of how much money our Commissioners have handed out that could be used for core needs.
It would maybe take a small team of worker ants to parse the data, but it might tell another story for the electorate.
Over 1000 signatures. To put that into Ozias perspective, that could stop 10 Towne Road projects, if it was the right cause.
When I listen to the BOCCC all I ever hear is how they can get a hold of more taxpayer money, not how to generate it via local jobs. They're far too reliant on Recompete money.
I remember writing an essay decades ago, when the modern welfare state was just beginning to grow like a supercharged amoeba. One of the points made was, once 51% of the voting public begins to receive "free stuff" from the government, we're doomed, because who is going to vote to quit getting free stuff? This is the lure of the "progressive" culture: you are not responsible for the fact that others might have more than you, even though they have worked longer and harder and sacrificed immediate pleasure for long-term security. Let Uncle (Sam) make it right by you ... and it won't cost YOU a nickel. And don't forget that roughly 70% of the cost of government is in personnel costs, both to pay for current salaries and benefits that most private sector folk can't obtain or afford, as well as those lovely pension packages. Shrinking the size and scope of the nanny state is paramount to long-term growth and financial success of any community.
And then the freebies stop the states and govt broke and then what happens? All hell breaks loose every man woman child for themselves just like other poor countries.All because of the corrupt ignorants elected into office.
Government in the U.S.A. has devolved from it's intended purpose of infrastructure, economic opportunity, safety and security into social behavior and minority-ism. I'm not assuming social behavior and minority-ism are not worthy of attention, but they are not tasks for Governance. When the most qualified applicant for a position is overlooked in favor of a Government decreed physical characteristic necessary to achieve diversity, equity and inclusion it proves a path to social degradation. That denial of the most qualified candidate was and is very expensive in tax payer cost. Government aimless growth has even recently digressed to championing the infinite derivations of sexual deviancy. Voters must choose between our Government providing the infrastructure basics or Government legislating and enforcing social acceptability; whatever that acceptability might be at that time. Honoring ancestry and culture is admirable, but it is not the charge of Governance. We are not $ 37 trillion in debt because of bridges and highways.
People are fooled by resumes that give magnificent impressions but once elected into office the positive impressions turn to sickening impressions that may not go away.
Sadly my family leans that way as well. But clallam is my home and before I leave I know I have to at least have given it a good ol' parking lot fist fight try.
What gets me is WHY would anyone vote for ANY increases at this point in time? If CCWD was printing and distributing false inaccurate information believe me we’d hear loud and clear about it by now. Numbers and facts don’t lie, people lie and they don’t like getting exposed, they don’t like being challenged and they don’t like taxpayers telling them to stop spending. The left tries hard to shut up the truth and facts as evidenced by Fisch trying to take away 1st Amendment rights of a Charter Review Commissioner, French restricting presentations during public comment and the list goes on….however if it’s one of theirs they get extra time to speak and show presentations, can use profanity toward others with no consequences. Finally heard one “Nay” after a year and a half but that was only because it wouldn’t have mattered and a commissioner wants to get re-elected. Sad sad Clallam County it could be so much better because there is so much room for improvement.
Clallam co was much better before ozias,french,johnson and some other liberal home wreckers were elected.There are a lot of voters not paying attention to elections and better wise up before it is to late.
Thank you very much, Jake, for your contribution to save Clallam County. This is a must print article to readily have to share with others. People can see for themselves how many taxes we have had imposed on us and how much these taxes have drained our personal budgets. My husband and I expect a 17% increase in our property taxes for 2026. That increase does not reflect what taxes are still to come. This is why we ordinary CC residents and taxpayers need a seat at the BoCC table. We are NOT represented. Jeff and Jake have both publicly stated that WASAC is nothing more than a lobbying group. I 100% agree. Anytime Ozias touts the merits of one of his special interest groups, you know that he is in it to for his own selfish reasons. We, his constituents, are just the dirt beneath his shoes.
I must be the third type of person. I just want to be left alone. I do not want to give. I do not want to take.
Our country was built by men who said the same thing. Leave me alone. Your rights end where my nose begins. We can come together to kill kings but other than that stay on your side of the fence.
I'm right there with you, TJ...I've already 'given', and never had any expectations; maybe you have, too. But this is outrageous, 'taxation without representation' and nothing in return.
For a look at the actual property tax paid by county commissioners and Port Angeles City Council Members, click this link to the timestamp where I show the data. https://youtu.be/lRHz9qEJmuQ?t=1540
“The building community would prefer reliability… and they are less sensitive to cost.” This assumption and attitude would make me stay away from Clallam county more than fee increases would. What nerve.
What part of tax CAP do these miscreants not understand? We put limits on their spending, and they keep wanting more as if the money supply was limitless. Wouldn't it be great if we freely spent money then simply decided to get more when we ran out? Life doesn't work that way, contrary to the Commissioners' beliefs.
IMO, one of the most interesting factoids was not even in the article. It was the fact that Norma Turner of the League of Women Voters was instrumental arguing for the OMC levy. From today’s transcript: “So Norma and Eugene Turner have a daughter and an adult daughter that married someone named Daryl Wolf. That is the CEO of OMC who just resigned. So I just wonder how much Eugene and Norma knew about their son-in-law, how he had absolutely impaled this hospital into the ground.
and was about to get his golden parachute and leave us with our hospital teetering on the brink of insolvency.”
That is absolutely huge and more folks should be aware of this connection. Thank you Jeff, for shining a light on the way policy in shaped in Clallam County.
I remember back in the late 70's sitting in my first formal accounting class as a student that was close to graduating with the primary degree in Economics, and the first day the instructor openly stated that "We should all get along, unless you are an Economics major"~! Ha! I had been wearing a suit working at a very high level of the banking and stock brokerage world as a personnel recruitment executive for some years by then, where although I was young I had significant power to match many accomplished accountants with gainful employment in the best companies, so this remark was humorous to me on a level that I am sure this overstuffed bean counter could never possibly understand~! Within a short period of time, I learned that when accountants fail to "account" for finds, that all they do is "invent a new category" to magically account for their additional data. Gee, how convenient~! OK, I suppose that this is fair enough for the bean counters who always need to "invent additional places" (entries) in their accounting process, like little frustrated children who can't fit a square peg into a round hole, so they take out a large hammer to bash the one into the other... but REAL Economists live in the real world where money (especially government/taxpayer funds) NEVER "go missing" because we know that someone has the money somewhere~! For instance, the very day before the infamous 9/11 attacks upon America, the federal government openly announced via the mainstream media that well over 1 trillion dollars was somehow "missing" and their infinite legions of bean counters with the biggest hammers on earth could neither account for or find where it had gone~! HA~! Hogwash~! ALL honorable self-respecting Economists knew EXACTLY what happened to that money and none of them needed an accountant to bash that square peg into their round holes with a hammer~! Oh, and of course the very next morning, on 9/11, out of a hysterical sense of shock, awe, and fear, the vast majority of Americans completely forgot about that 1 trillion +++ dollars that the federal government supposedly "lost"~! I am sure it was just a coincidence.... nothing to see here~! Yea right~! Anyway, my first point is to never assume that some young person wearing jeans and a T shirt is not your superior in the REAL world of business, regardless of how old and experienced you may be. My second point is that accountants can do necessary work, but that they largely live in the strange world of "make believe" where they automatically trust/believe whatever is being fed to them and then they try to make some sort of bizarre sense out of it~! The so-called "accounting sleight of hand" deceptions that our local governments, the NGO's, and the OMC are all now infamous for, really is sickly laughable for many here in Clallam County who possess any measure of common-sense reasoning, and you definitely do not need an Economics degree to know that~! Thank you Jeff Tozzer and Jake Seegers for again "bird dogging" the insanity of the local notorious & nefarious "closed door meeting crowd"~! May the Clallam County community awake to these most serious issues before tragedy strikes and nothing can be done to head off disaster~! We can keep on getting "screwed" by these underhanded individuals with their hidden agendas that go completely against the majority of the residents will, or we can become true leaders of our own community and examples of greatness to the entire country and world by rejecting these criminals from within and making the necessary common-sense changes NOW that we are going to have to make anyway!
The Tax Poem This poem was written by James L. MARRS in Indiana.
Tax his land, Tax his bed, Tax the table at which he's fed.
Tax his tractor, Tax his mule, Teach him taxes are the rule.
Tax his work, Tax his pay, He works for peanuts anyway!
Tax his cow, Tax his goat, Tax his pants, Tax his coat. Tax his ties, Tax his shirt, Tax his work, Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco, Tax his drink, Tax him if he tries to think.
Tax his cigars, Tax his beers, If he cries tax his tears.
Tax his car, Tax his gas, Find other ways to tax his ass.
Tax all he has, Then let him know, That you won't be done till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers, Then tax him some more, Tax him till he's good and sore.
Then tax his coffin, Tax his grave, Tax the sod in which he's laid.
Put these words Upon his tomb, 'Taxes drove me to my doom...'
When he's gone, Do not relax, Its time to apply the inheritance tax.
https://laissez-fairerepublic.com/TenPlanks.html
Wa state residents better have a trust to avoid being ripped off by wa state.
You sure put a lot of work into this, it paints a picture of our current reality. I'm appreciative of you and Jeff for shining a light on such an important topic.
The incessant spending of our Commissioners is a course that needs a change in direction. It's obvious that it does take money to run a county government, when it comes to core services. This environment is like a weekend party house in high school where the cool parents let the kids drink to abandon. No one is acting like an adult with our tax dollars and it's being spent/consumed in a drunken manner.
In the last BOCCC meeting I heard you make a comparison to the types of spending the Commissioners allow that are entirely discretionary, and by adding up just a few what their FTE equivalency was given departments are being told to tighten their belts and layoff employees.
It would be interesting to have the data for the last few years on these discretionary spends to get a better sense of how much money our Commissioners have handed out that could be used for core needs.
It would maybe take a small team of worker ants to parse the data, but it might tell another story for the electorate.
Over 1000 signatures. To put that into Ozias perspective, that could stop 10 Towne Road projects, if it was the right cause.
When I listen to the BOCCC all I ever hear is how they can get a hold of more taxpayer money, not how to generate it via local jobs. They're far too reliant on Recompete money.
I remember writing an essay decades ago, when the modern welfare state was just beginning to grow like a supercharged amoeba. One of the points made was, once 51% of the voting public begins to receive "free stuff" from the government, we're doomed, because who is going to vote to quit getting free stuff? This is the lure of the "progressive" culture: you are not responsible for the fact that others might have more than you, even though they have worked longer and harder and sacrificed immediate pleasure for long-term security. Let Uncle (Sam) make it right by you ... and it won't cost YOU a nickel. And don't forget that roughly 70% of the cost of government is in personnel costs, both to pay for current salaries and benefits that most private sector folk can't obtain or afford, as well as those lovely pension packages. Shrinking the size and scope of the nanny state is paramount to long-term growth and financial success of any community.
And then the freebies stop the states and govt broke and then what happens? All hell breaks loose every man woman child for themselves just like other poor countries.All because of the corrupt ignorants elected into office.
Government in the U.S.A. has devolved from it's intended purpose of infrastructure, economic opportunity, safety and security into social behavior and minority-ism. I'm not assuming social behavior and minority-ism are not worthy of attention, but they are not tasks for Governance. When the most qualified applicant for a position is overlooked in favor of a Government decreed physical characteristic necessary to achieve diversity, equity and inclusion it proves a path to social degradation. That denial of the most qualified candidate was and is very expensive in tax payer cost. Government aimless growth has even recently digressed to championing the infinite derivations of sexual deviancy. Voters must choose between our Government providing the infrastructure basics or Government legislating and enforcing social acceptability; whatever that acceptability might be at that time. Honoring ancestry and culture is admirable, but it is not the charge of Governance. We are not $ 37 trillion in debt because of bridges and highways.
People are fooled by resumes that give magnificent impressions but once elected into office the positive impressions turn to sickening impressions that may not go away.
🎶 Oh clallam county let me know/ should I stay or should I go/
you always tell me how I'm free/
but proceed to tax my property/
If I go I may find other trouble/
But if I stay I will pay double/
So clallam county please let me know/
Should I stay or should I go🎶
SC Perfecto!
The writing is on the wall. We're GTFO.
Sadly my family leans that way as well. But clallam is my home and before I leave I know I have to at least have given it a good ol' parking lot fist fight try.
Same. Took me 20 years to finally get here. I’m not going without a flight.
What gets me is WHY would anyone vote for ANY increases at this point in time? If CCWD was printing and distributing false inaccurate information believe me we’d hear loud and clear about it by now. Numbers and facts don’t lie, people lie and they don’t like getting exposed, they don’t like being challenged and they don’t like taxpayers telling them to stop spending. The left tries hard to shut up the truth and facts as evidenced by Fisch trying to take away 1st Amendment rights of a Charter Review Commissioner, French restricting presentations during public comment and the list goes on….however if it’s one of theirs they get extra time to speak and show presentations, can use profanity toward others with no consequences. Finally heard one “Nay” after a year and a half but that was only because it wouldn’t have mattered and a commissioner wants to get re-elected. Sad sad Clallam County it could be so much better because there is so much room for improvement.
Clallam co was much better before ozias,french,johnson and some other liberal home wreckers were elected.There are a lot of voters not paying attention to elections and better wise up before it is to late.
Thank you very much, Jake, for your contribution to save Clallam County. This is a must print article to readily have to share with others. People can see for themselves how many taxes we have had imposed on us and how much these taxes have drained our personal budgets. My husband and I expect a 17% increase in our property taxes for 2026. That increase does not reflect what taxes are still to come. This is why we ordinary CC residents and taxpayers need a seat at the BoCC table. We are NOT represented. Jeff and Jake have both publicly stated that WASAC is nothing more than a lobbying group. I 100% agree. Anytime Ozias touts the merits of one of his special interest groups, you know that he is in it to for his own selfish reasons. We, his constituents, are just the dirt beneath his shoes.
My fat thumb accident clicked the wrong button in your poll today… please remove my “revenue problem” to “spending problem” 😊 thank you
I must be the third type of person. I just want to be left alone. I do not want to give. I do not want to take.
Our country was built by men who said the same thing. Leave me alone. Your rights end where my nose begins. We can come together to kill kings but other than that stay on your side of the fence.
I'm right there with you, TJ...I've already 'given', and never had any expectations; maybe you have, too. But this is outrageous, 'taxation without representation' and nothing in return.
The poet is our return.
AMEN!
For a look at the actual property tax paid by county commissioners and Port Angeles City Council Members, click this link to the timestamp where I show the data. https://youtu.be/lRHz9qEJmuQ?t=1540
Nice chart!
“The building community would prefer reliability… and they are less sensitive to cost.” This assumption and attitude would make me stay away from Clallam county more than fee increases would. What nerve.
What part of tax CAP do these miscreants not understand? We put limits on their spending, and they keep wanting more as if the money supply was limitless. Wouldn't it be great if we freely spent money then simply decided to get more when we ran out? Life doesn't work that way, contrary to the Commissioners' beliefs.
They don't know how to say no, or are afraid too. Either trait is a deficiency in a leader.
AMEN!
IMO, one of the most interesting factoids was not even in the article. It was the fact that Norma Turner of the League of Women Voters was instrumental arguing for the OMC levy. From today’s transcript: “So Norma and Eugene Turner have a daughter and an adult daughter that married someone named Daryl Wolf. That is the CEO of OMC who just resigned. So I just wonder how much Eugene and Norma knew about their son-in-law, how he had absolutely impaled this hospital into the ground.
and was about to get his golden parachute and leave us with our hospital teetering on the brink of insolvency.”
That is absolutely huge and more folks should be aware of this connection. Thank you Jeff, for shining a light on the way policy in shaped in Clallam County.
One of the best posts yet. Thank you.
I remember back in the late 70's sitting in my first formal accounting class as a student that was close to graduating with the primary degree in Economics, and the first day the instructor openly stated that "We should all get along, unless you are an Economics major"~! Ha! I had been wearing a suit working at a very high level of the banking and stock brokerage world as a personnel recruitment executive for some years by then, where although I was young I had significant power to match many accomplished accountants with gainful employment in the best companies, so this remark was humorous to me on a level that I am sure this overstuffed bean counter could never possibly understand~! Within a short period of time, I learned that when accountants fail to "account" for finds, that all they do is "invent a new category" to magically account for their additional data. Gee, how convenient~! OK, I suppose that this is fair enough for the bean counters who always need to "invent additional places" (entries) in their accounting process, like little frustrated children who can't fit a square peg into a round hole, so they take out a large hammer to bash the one into the other... but REAL Economists live in the real world where money (especially government/taxpayer funds) NEVER "go missing" because we know that someone has the money somewhere~! For instance, the very day before the infamous 9/11 attacks upon America, the federal government openly announced via the mainstream media that well over 1 trillion dollars was somehow "missing" and their infinite legions of bean counters with the biggest hammers on earth could neither account for or find where it had gone~! HA~! Hogwash~! ALL honorable self-respecting Economists knew EXACTLY what happened to that money and none of them needed an accountant to bash that square peg into their round holes with a hammer~! Oh, and of course the very next morning, on 9/11, out of a hysterical sense of shock, awe, and fear, the vast majority of Americans completely forgot about that 1 trillion +++ dollars that the federal government supposedly "lost"~! I am sure it was just a coincidence.... nothing to see here~! Yea right~! Anyway, my first point is to never assume that some young person wearing jeans and a T shirt is not your superior in the REAL world of business, regardless of how old and experienced you may be. My second point is that accountants can do necessary work, but that they largely live in the strange world of "make believe" where they automatically trust/believe whatever is being fed to them and then they try to make some sort of bizarre sense out of it~! The so-called "accounting sleight of hand" deceptions that our local governments, the NGO's, and the OMC are all now infamous for, really is sickly laughable for many here in Clallam County who possess any measure of common-sense reasoning, and you definitely do not need an Economics degree to know that~! Thank you Jeff Tozzer and Jake Seegers for again "bird dogging" the insanity of the local notorious & nefarious "closed door meeting crowd"~! May the Clallam County community awake to these most serious issues before tragedy strikes and nothing can be done to head off disaster~! We can keep on getting "screwed" by these underhanded individuals with their hidden agendas that go completely against the majority of the residents will, or we can become true leaders of our own community and examples of greatness to the entire country and world by rejecting these criminals from within and making the necessary common-sense changes NOW that we are going to have to make anyway!
Sincerely, Mike
“levy lid lift,” --- NOPE NO MORE