Vote ‘no’ on Initiative 4 — good intent doesn’t outweigh the surcharges and lost services

In our collective 45 years serving as mayors of this city, we have come to share a deep understanding of what makes this city so special, how we can work together to improve it, and what we all need to do to support a thriving city.

On your ballot, you have an opportunity to vote on initiatives that aim to make our community better. As former mayors, we appreciate and applaud citizen participation in government — but we are united in opposing Initiative 4, as the unintended impacts would far outweigh the noble intent.

Initiative 4 would require workers’ schedules to be finalized weeks in advance, and would add hazard pay anytime a state of emergency is declared. While we appreciate the support for workers, we have to look deeper at how the initiative would actually work.

It would remove flexibility when we all need it most, it would add hazard pay for state emergencies that have no impact on our area, and those factors combined would both reduce public services and increase costs for families. And the hardest hit would be marginalized people in our community.

In fact, it’s so sweeping that it could be the last straw not only for our favorite breweries, stores, restaurants and coffee shops —but also for our city government, schools, colleges, and even the nonprofits that serve those most in need.

How? The hazard pay, for instance, may sound like a good idea, but it means if the governor declares a statewide drought, our nonprofits, schools and businesses would pay more — even if Bellingham has record rain. These costs will be passed along to all of us. Do you want to pay a drought surcharge for goods and services? Or see our struggling nonprofits cut staffing, hours or services to cover the costs?

If the governor declares an emergency for wildfires or non-native insects, should our library and parks have to cut services and hours? This will hurt communities that rely on community services to meet basic needs, like broadband internet at the library.

When the Bellingham City Council voted unanimously to oppose this initiative, they did so based on the facts: This initiative will cost the city $5 million to $7 million per year — and that doesn’t include cost increases for projects such as road construction, which will also increase.

The other concern with Initiative 4 is that it requires employees’ schedules to be locked in weeks in advance with no flexibility. If schedules change, employers pay a steep penalty. Right now, we all need flexibility — whether it’s to accommodate sick children or even closing a couple of hours early because business is slow. But this initiative takes that away. Initiative 4 takes a one-size-fits-all approach that will not work for our community.

Right now, our community needs to focus on recovering from the pandemic so Bellingham can thrive.

Please, join us in voting no on Initiative 4.