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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay
October 22 - 28, 2020
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Cause of recent Blaine outages is unknown, page 3
Car tab initiative ruled unconstitutional, page 6
Blaine Farmers Market to continue indoors, page 10
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
A new group of kindergarteners return to school City plans to keep employees, cut operating expenses for 2021 budget By Oliver Lazenby
(See Budget, page 6)
s A new cohort of Blaine kindergarteners came to school on October 12. The first group of kindergarteners returned to school in-person on October 12 in a hybrid learning model, and the second of two groups arrived on October 19.
Photo courtesy of Lisa Moeller
Election 2020: Show us the money B y P a t G r u bb If money talks, then there’s a whole lot of yakking going on in the 42nd district. As of October 19, the four candidates running for state representative district 42 seats have reported receiving $1,298,000 in donations in the hotly contested races. Leading the contributor pack is Democratic incumbent Sharon Shewmake with $390,875, followed by her Republican challenger Jennifer Sefzik with $330,672 in contributions. The two are running for the Position 2 seat. Republican incumbent Luanne Van Werven has raised $290,557 while her challenger Alicia Rule has pulled in $286,146. Figures shown are current as of October 19. Reported expenditures tell a slightly different story. Shewmake has spent $316,677 versus Sefzik’s $231,200,
Wildbird Charity and the Blaine Chamber of Commerce Present
while Rule has spent $254,697 compared to Van Werven’s $224,379. Much of the money received by the candidates comes from party sources. For example, Shewmake has received over $204,000 from state and county Democratic campaign funds. She has also received money from a number of tribes as well as various union locals. She has spent the most money on mailers ($47,000) followed by Comcast TV ads ($41,570) and digital and radio ads with Cascade Radio and Praise 106.5 ($24,000). Polling has cost $8,250. The Washington state Public Disclosure Commission lists political donations by date, organization and amount of money given. Often, an organization will give more than one contribution. For example, the House Democratic Campaign Committee made two donations, one for
$80,000 and another for $8,250. Of Shewmake’s top 25 donations, 12 came from just four state and county Democratic or(See Campaigns, page 3)
Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 First Responders . 8 Classifieds . . . . . 11 Coming Up . . . . . 14 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Crossword . . . . . . 14
INSIDE
The grass could be longer at city parks next year and emerging issues could take longer to fix. The city of Blaine is struggling through the process of drafting a 2021 general fund budget with a roughly 7.6 percent reduction in spending from the city’s amended 2020 budget and about 10 percent from the original 2020 budget before the city cut costs due to Covid-19 and the border closure. The general fund pays for staff salaries, supplies and some other city expenses. City council directed staff to plan a reduced budget at a September 14 meeting, after city staff presented three options for budget planning: A worst-case scenario, a same-case scenario and a scenario that envisioned the city going back to preCovid-19 revenue. Council directed staff to plan for a 1 percent reduction from the same-case scenario. City manager Michael Jones brought a draft general fund budget to city council at an October 12 study session that accomplished the bulk of spending cuts to the $6.7 million budget but still fell about $81,000 short of the goal. “Under this budget we will have less capacity to respond to emerging issues. There will be more reductions in service levels,� Jones told council. “This budget is not a budget I’d choose, it’s not a budget that I think you’d choose. It is a circumstance of the times. We can’t do this year over year and run the kind of government, the kind of city, you’d be proud of. We can do it for a year, maybe two, beyond that you’ll see a wearing down of people, resources, facilities.� Much of the cost saving in the draft budget comes from a reduction in travel and training expenses and a reduction in operating supplies. All city departments cut their budgets for travel and training would be done only to keep necessary certifications, Jones said. “In some areas we will be consuming our inventory and coming to the end of
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