“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” ― John Adams, The Portable John Adams
To keep the math simple, $140,000 of cuts per year on a $20 million expenditure budget equals 0.70%. This is what some apologists for the incumbent Mukilteo mayor currently running for an unprecedented 4th term have suggested was a laudable accomplishment. Inflation, they cry, was the fault – “Federal” inflation, no less – for his record setting deficits, which have triggered double digit deficits as far as the eye can see. Yet, CPI cannot be blamed when it has been below 3.5% since 2023.
Our Mukilteo has real structural issues that are unaddressed in the adopted budget. The City will exhaust its general fund ending fund balance in 2027, I believe by February 2027. I analyzed all of this and explained all of this numerous times last fall in Council chambers and in the press. I explained the GAP policy and how we were in the most severe level of GAP spending. Angered by the dereliction evidenced by so blatantly ignoring our fiscal policies, I even stated that. What else can you call it?
Now, nine months after my analysis and with campaign season upon us, the same truth “alterers” are busily blaming “inflation”, even though we have a new consensus that my analysis was correct – we were in GAP all along, my calculation was correct and we managed to kick the can down the road by gaslighting the Council into voting 5-2 that transfers are not uses of funds.
It gives me no joy to understand that Mukilteo residents were sold a false bill of goods last fall. And so, I am heartened by the joy in knowing, as the young lad in “Jack & the Beanstalk” sang, that “I fear nothing, when I am in the right”:
“I fear nothing when I am in the right
Who ever pushes me around will find me full of fight
I fear nothing when I do nothing wrong
And so I toddle on my way and sing a merry song
If I believe that I am right
There’s only one thing to be done
I don’t go looking for a fight
But I have never run away from one.”
Mike Dixon, Mukilteo City Councilman
Mike Dixon was elected to a four-year term in 2023. Born and raised in the U.S. Virgin Islands, he has made Mukilteo his home since 2007. Mike is currently a cleantech executive with GM Energy, owns and operates an insurance agency in Old Town, and is a solar farm investor in the Caribbean. Mike is also a three-time elected water sewer commissioner, former president of the Board of the Alderwood Water & Wastewater District, and current commissioner of the Mukilteo Water & Wastewater District. He holds a bachelor’s degree in management science and an MBA, both from MIT.
According to his bio, his council goals are building a cleantech cluster in Mukilteo, developing the waterfront as a commercial and recreational economic hub in the region, marketing Mukilteo as a welcoming and inclusive city, building policy to support the middle class and ensure our city’s sustainability, working collaboratively to ensure strong and robust long term financial planning and annual budgets, and partnering regionally to help Mukilteo remain an inclusive, sustainable, vibrant and growing city.
COMMENTARY DISCLAIMER: The views and comments expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Lynnwood Times nor any of its affiliate.
Author: Lynnwood Times Contributor
