My wife Clare and I moved to Vashon in 1977. We will turn 71 before the year’s end.

At the recent hospital district forum, board candidate Wendy Noble suggested that seniors don’t have to worry about property taxes because we have ways to “delay” them. I’m guessing that means we could allow the county to put a tax lien on our property until we sell out or die? That’s an insult. Let’s hock the family home we just paid off to be “free and clear” — for the first time in our lives — to pay for nebulous Vashon health care needs with expensive solutions nobody has yet identified.

Where does this leave seniors who are already leveraged to the hilt for good reason? What about young families and renters who will bear the pass-through of every successive property tax increase? Should they just use their credit cards?

We’re fed up funding the fiscal irresponsibility of all Vashon tax districts. We don’t need to list examples for Vashon residents who have faithfully funded them year after year. It’s not simply the proposed hospital district. It is every straw that breaks the camel’s back, not just the last one.

We used to vote “yes” for everything, but we’ve been driven into the backlash camp and will resist any future tax increases. This has to end — and our only choice and advice is to “just vote no.”

We’re sorry it has to be this way.

— John and Clare van Amerongen