For the pennies the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District is seeking in their levy on this election’s ballot, the area stands to gain back much more than the maintenance the money is for — a real beginning.
A beginning to an era of unified, pick-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps political will.
The Coulee Area Park and Recreation District was formed as a tool to allow the area’s people to give their blessings to efforts that will make life better for everyone in the area, such as a swimming pool.
Still seen as their primary goal, commissioners for CAPRD have found the path to that swimming pool to be a complicated one. Current commissioners are still working toward that and making great progress, but don’t let that confuse you. The current vote has nothing to do with those bigger plans that will require even more unity and more grants.
It does have to do with some simple area needs, supplemental funding of parks and recreation efforts that shouldn’t fall to just one city when everyone can benefit from it.
The district has never had any direct tax funding, which speaks volumes to agencies that award grant money. They like to see local support. Nothing says the community supports the district and that folks here are willing to put their own money where their wishes are, like a tax levy, even one as minimal as this.
The district is seeking 15 cents of support for every $1,000 of taxable property, or $15 a year on a $100,000 house.
With that, the district will meet matching funds for grants, including a $50,000 grant from the Bureau of Reclamation for upgrades and maintenance at North Dam Park and Event Center.
That should be a pretty easy decision: 15 cents for a unified effort to lift the quality of life in the coulee area.
Scott Hunter
editor and publisher
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