I cannot believe that the Vashon Park District has depleted its reserves and now has to borrow money to cover daily operating expenses. This is not being fiscally responsible with our taxpayer dollars. When will we learn the importance of living within our means?

We may want new ball fields, but we do not always get what we want. We have a loan of $400,000 for the field that is not completed and need more money to finish the project.  Now the park district wants to do another fundraiser? Our community is tapped out with all the various fundraisers! Even the elves had trouble this year, collecting only 60 percent of what they raised last year.

It will take our park district five years to pay off the loan and probably at least that long to get back on track. Our park employees have forgone a raise for three years. Are we going to ask them to go another five years without a raise? Is that fair?

We chose to live on Vashon because we love the rural small town community atmosphere. Then why do we expect or want to have all the amenities of a large community? We only have just over 10,000 people living here. This is our tax base. Maybe we really cannot afford a large, brand new ball field.

— Hilary Emmer