I think the time is long overdue that we on Vashon be relieved of the obligation to pay a portion of our property taxes to the Port of Seattle.

The Port’s 2017 operating revenues are budgeted at $620 million. That makes it the equivalent of a pretty large corporation. If the port’s officials are smart enough to run a business that large, they sure as heck should be smart enough to figure out how to make enough money from their Seattle waterfront operations and Sea-Tac Airport to get by without taking money from the property owners clear over here on Vashon. For good reason we on Vashon are excused from having to pay the Regional Transit Authority tax. For the same reason, we should not have to be forced to pay any taxes to the Port of Seattle.

It only adds to my frustration with them when I read about the Port paying $4.8 million in illegal bonuses and the bulk of those bonuses going to executives and managers that are already overpaid. According to The Seattle Times, some of the biggest payouts went to the senior leadership team that rolled out the bonus program.

If that isn’t a bunch of crap, I don’t know what is.

— Ed Palmer