REVIEW BAINBRIDGE ISLAND
BHS ON STAGE: Spartan actors soar with Chekhov classic. A10
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2012 | Vol. 112, No. 44 | WWW.BAINBRIDGEREVIEW.COM | 75¢
Councilman wants changes to police, public works in new budget plan
LAST DAYS BEFORE NOV. 6
Early voting begins in earnest BY BRIAN KELLY Bainbridge Island Review
Bonkowski budget looks to set aside more money for roads BY RICHARD D. OXLEY Bainbridge Island Review
The answer to getting more money for Bainbridge Island roads may just lie in the police department’s parking lot. Or, more accurately, in the driveways of police officers. As work continues on the city’s biennial budget, Councilman Steve Bonkowski has suggested eliminating the police department’s take-home vehicle program as a way to free up funds for road projects. City staff is vetting Bonkowski’s idea and others from the first-term councilman — the effects of which may ripple not only through Steve Bonkowski the police department, but also public works. The city’s 2013-2014 budget builds off the 2012 budget and totals for $51.3 million in 2013, and $50.6 million in 2014. Staff salaries and benefits continue to be the city’s largest expense, and city officials have proposed cutting staff by 3.5 full-time equivalent positions. The city will hold a public hearing for the budget at the city council’s next meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 7. But the amendments to the budget that Bonkowski is proposing would require considerable policy changes, particularly with the police department and public works. He estimates that his changes would free up nearly $470,000 in 2013, and $1.3 million in 2014, to spend on island roads and economic development in the city. Over the next two years, $600,000 has been allotted for annual road work programs. Bonkowski said he wants more for the island’s ailing roads. “I’m proposing to develop funding alternatives so the city can maintain its roads now and into the future without substantially new revenue sources from the city’s residents,” Bonkowski said. Initially, he urged the council to instruct Interim City Manager Morgan Smith to find alterations to the budget and provide $2 million to roads preservation and maintenance. “The city staff said that the roads program (needs) in the realm of $2 million a year,” Bonkowski said. “We are woefully short of meetSEE BUDGET, A9
Brian Kelly / Bainbridge Island Review
Lisa Bohonos works the phones, urging voters to vote early, at the Democratic 23rd Legislative District Office on Madrone Lane in Winslow along with fellow volunteers Vinnie Perrone and Channie Peters.
October Surprise? Eleventh-hour revelations? Plenty of Bainbridge Island voters aren’t waiting to find out. Early voting is on the upswing on the island, and a Review analysis of early ballot returns shows that more than one third of registered voters have already cast ballots for the Nov. 6 General Election. Ballots received by the Kitsap County Elections Division one week before Election Day show that 34.9 percent of Bainbridge Island voters — or 6,281 voters — have already cast their ballots. Bainbridge’s turnout through Tuesday was better than the county as a whole. Election officials said that countywide, 49,653 ballots had been
returned by Oct. 30. That’s approximately 32.5 percent of the county’s more than 152,000 voters. Five of Bainbridge’s 22 precincts already have a turnout rate above 40 percent; Azalea (43 percent), Wing Point (43), Fernclilff (40) and Seabold (40). Early voters contacted at random this week said they largely did their research before their ballots came in the mail, and saw no reason for waiting before sending them back. “We knew who we were going to vote for; we figured we might as well get it done,” said Stephen Davis. Bainbridge voters said their choices for candidates were guided by more than one issue. Some have been talked about this election cycle. Others, not. SEE VOTING, A20
Cantwell comes to island to stump for Kilmer BY RICHARD D. OXLEY Bainbridge Island Review
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell came to Bainbridge Island Monday to stump for her fellow Democrat Derek Kilmer and light a fire under the party faithful. “We have a solution in Derek Kilmer,” Cantwell said to a cheering crowd of Democrats at a packed house at the Filipino-American Hall. “I am here to talk about Derek and to encourage you to make sure that this election goes the way we want it to go,” she said. Kilmer is running for the a U.S. House 6th District seat in Congress, the position that Rep. Norm Dicks has held since 1976 and is retiring from after this term. The evening fundraiser drew a who’s who of local political
Brian Kelly / Bainbridge Island Review
Derek Kilmer meets with Bainbridge Islanders during a campaign visit to the island Monday. figures, including Rep. Drew Hansen, Rep. Sherry Appleton, Sen. Christine Rolfes and Trudi Inslee, the wife of gubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee. Also in the crowd: Supreme Court candidate Sheryl Gordon McCloud
and Superior Court hopeful Karen Klein, Bainbridge Island Councilman David Ward, and Bainbridge Mayor Debbi Lester. The visit by Cantwell and Kilmer came during
Washington Democrats’ 26-stop “Jobs for Washington” tour, which is taking Cantwell, Inslee and other Democrats across the state to spur voter turnout and highlight their work on creating jobs. The tour continues on this week to Seattle and Kirkland on Friday and Bellevue, Tacoma and Edmonds on Saturday. On Bainbridge earlier this week — aside from briefly wishing Rep. Appleton a happy birthday — the message to the audience was urgent; let’s hit the streets to motivate voters and elect Democratic Party candidates to office. Cantwell noted what her party faces on the other side of the aisle — fear. “There are a bunch of folks in the other Washington who SEE KILMER, A20