Patriot Bremerton
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2013 | Vol. 16, No. 37 WWW.BREMERTONPATRIOT.COM | 50¢
Hundreds gather for teen center ribbon-cutting
Kevan Moore/Staff photo
A ribbon-cutting at Bremerton’s new Boys & Girls Club and Lindquist Dental Clinic brought hundreds of project supporters together last week to celebrate. BY KEVAN MOORE KMOORE@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Former Congressman Norm Dicks eyes’ watered and he choked up a bit during last week’s ribbon-cutting for the new Bremerton Teen Center, located at the former site of Bremerton Junior High and East High School campus.
More than 200 people turned out last Friday for the dedication of the new center at 3102 Wheaton Way. The center will be home to the area’s first Boys & Girls Club for teens and a Lindquist Dental Clinic open to all area youngsters at low-cost to no-cost. “We didn’t have the Boys & Girls Club (when I grew up) and when you
Bremerton port budget approved by commissioners BY LESLIE KELLY LKELLY@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
A 2014 preliminary budget of $14.4 million was approved Tuesday by Bremerton Port commissioners. The budget calls for $5.1
million to be spent on operations in 2014 and another $8.7 in capital projects. Commissioners spent the last month looking at both the capital and operating expenditures in the draft budget which was put together by Port CFO Becky
think about the number of low-income families — 73 percent of the kids that come here are receiving free or reduced lunches or other forms of federal assistance,” said Dicks. “So, there’s a group in this community who will benefit from this mightily.” Dicks noted that area youngsters will grow academically and have access to state-of-the-art technology at the club. He also spoke about the importance of the Lindquist dental clinic. “I’ve been and seen them in operation and they are phenomenal,” he said. “To have the kids here in this community — not getting dental care is such a terrible thing to face — to be able to come here and get dental care is just so great.” Dicks was also able to keep things light, poking a little fun at his successor, Congressman Derek Kilmer, who earlier had referred to Dicks as the “pride of West High.” “There is one youth I’ve helped especially and that’s Derek Kilmer,” Dicks joked. For his part, Kilmer spoke about all of the partnerships that were forged to make the new teen center a reality. “This is a celebration of not just a new building, but of new opportunities for the young people of this community,” said Kilmer. “Also it’s an example of
Swanson. Some of the recommendations of the port staff in the preliminary budget which garnered the most discussion were a $200,000 WiFi system and $175,000 for more security cameras at the Bremerton Marina. Also questioned were the suggestions of purchases of a minivan at $20,000 for use as a shuttle at the Bremerton Marina and a truck and snowplow at $25,000 for the airport operations. Ultimately, in the budget passed Tuesday, all of those things were funded, except for a second small pickup truck at $19,000. Swanson said the budget was based on no increase in the current property tax rate.
DON’T LEAVE YET!
Leslie Kelly/Staff photo
Colorful fall leaves brighten Kitsap County this fall. Weather experts say this is a particularly good year for brilliant color.
SEE TEEN CENTER, A17
She said the port’s allowable tax rate is 45 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, but that for the fifth year in a row, the port was choosing not to increase its tax rate and was keeping it at 39 cents, the same as last year. She also said the the budget calls for the same staffing levels and has little to no “contingency fall back” funds in the event of a weather or environmental catastrophe. The port, however, does have reserves. In this year’s budget, just 26 percent of it is based on the property tax income that the port receives. “We’re down from 46 percent in 2008, and that’s something for which we are SEE BUDGET, A17
Lent, Best square off in final debate of the election BY KEVAN MOORE KMOORE@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent and challenger Todd Best faced off in their sixth and final debate last week on the eve of ballots being mailed to voters. Hosted by the League of Women Voters, the debate offered one of the clearest contrasts between the candidates in the election thus far. Lent and Best disagree on whether or not Bremerton needs a city manager, the pathway to growing the
city through annexations, how to wean the city off its Business and Occupation (B&O) tax, expanding the Kitsap Conference Center, $20 car tab fees and many other issues. One of Best’s consistent campaign messages has been about eliminating the B&O tax in four years in order to compete with businesses in Silverdale. “We’re in a down economy and I think right now would be the time to strike to get us off that dependenSEE DEBATES, A17