There are two kinds of people in my neighborhood: cliff-dwellers and never-cliff-dwellers. The cliff-dwellers, entranced by the beautiful waters of Discovery Bay, are willing to pay hundreds of thousands, sometimes more than a million dollars, for homes perched on steep sand cliffs. They are betting those cliffs won’t erode and render their expensive properties worthless. This, despite the fact that there’s a house in the neighborhood Jefferson County has red tagged as uninhabitable due to cliff erosion. It stands empty and forlorn, its previous owners bankrupt and renting from their adult children. Yet, just a few houses away, feet from that same cliff and close to one of the largest slides, is a house that recently sold for more than $1 million. 

This kind of Russian roulette the cliff-dwellers play is the same kind of fiscal irresponsibility Port Townsend’s city manager, mayor and city council are playing with our town’s budget. 

This administration believes spending more money than is takes in is fine. They’ve done it for the past two years and they have no plans to change. They’re spending down the town’s reserves (our emergency fund) for day-to-day expenses and, by their own analysis, we’ll be broke by 2029. It’s justified, they say, to “improve long term outcomes.” 

How has this happened? These folks seem to believe our little town of 10,500 is much larger than it is and that we need to spend way more than is warranted. Over the last five years, general fund expenses have increased 88%.

Our city manager makes $284,305 (including benefits), more than our state’s governor. That’s a 52% increase since Mauro was hired in 2019. Despite running a budget in the red, the Port Townsend City Council recently voted to give Mauro another 3% raise (in addition to his 2.75% COLA). Mayor David Faber justified Mauro’s inflated salary by comparing it to Pasco’s manager. Of course, Pasco has a population of 83,000+, which is a lot more people to share the cost of a pricey manager.

It appears every time the city manager and city staff is faced with a decision, they hire consultants. Over the past five years, they’ve spent at least $1.89 million on consultants, including $472,000 on architectural consultants for the Evans Vista affordable housing project that lies vacant. 

Most recently, Mauro, who’s unsupervised spending powers was increased by the Council from $20,000 to $75,000, hired the Gallup organization to survey city staff on a project called “Building a Culture of Strength” (whatever that means). He just authorized another two-year, $75,000 contract with them.

The manager, mayor and city council justify their fiscal irresponsibility by saying they’re spending our reserves on needed services “to achieve a more sustainable approach.” This is from a town that can’t repair the gaping pothole, among many, at the busy Mill/Discovery Rd. intersection or pave the dirt/gravel streets that become mud holes in the rainy season. 

This fiscal Russian roulette comes at a time when our city is facing uncertain times. The federal administration’s on-again, off-again tariffs, mass layoffs and cuts to social service programs have made businesses and locals loath to spend money. The president’s threats to annex Canada have resulted in Canadians boycotting travel to our country. Canadians fund 15-20% of business on the Olympic Peninsula and the local Visitor Bureau says they’ve seen a 10-15% decrease already in business. Now is the time the city needs to tighten its belts — not recklessly spend down our emergency funds.  

Get it together city staff and city council. As a child, I learned from my mom that spending more money than you bring in is not the path to fiscal health or sustainability. 

This cliff-dwelling mentality is leading our town to financial ruin.

Bobbie Hasselbring is a long-time journalist who lives in Cape George.