I am Miriam Keller, President of the League of Women Voters of Fremont, Newark and Union City.  Our League supported the previous Utility Tax.   Since that effort we have seen more and more potholes in our streets.   We have seen newspaper reports of more crime in Fremont.

We recognize that the quality of life in Fremont depends on the City being able to deliver services.  We liked having the library open more hours.   We liked having after school programs at the junior high schools.  We are not pleased with the fire department response time becoming longer.  We are distressed when park play equipment needs to be removed instead of being repaired.   We are not pleased that senior services have been cut back.  We are worried that we may have to dip into our reserves-our savings account-to fund services this year.

We also know that deferring maintenance is not cost efficient.  Pot holes don't fix themselves.

We support the concept of a necessary utility tax that will be for specified services and that has a sunset clause so that voters can stay in control of expenditures.   The recession won't last forever, and maybe State financing will be changed so cities will not bear the brunt of funding necessary programs.

The quality of life in our City is important to residents and businesses.   The League is interested in having Fremont be a place where people want to live, work and establish businesses.  We are taking the long term look that will bring back the quality of life that gave Fremont its good reputation.   We encourage you to work out ways to make the proposed tax as equitable as possible and to sunset it as soon as possible.

Many other Bay Area cities have had utility taxes for years.  Fremont residents need to clearly understand our City's financing problems so they can make good decisions about the needs of our residents.  A well-crafted utility tax seems the best solution at this time, and the League supports you as you take this issue to the voters.