Community Disorganization

Here’s how the All Point Bulletin summarized last month’s meeting of the Taxpayers Association in Point Roberts: “The board of the local taxpayers association shrunk again as directors declined to run for another term and no new blood came forward.”

Now we hear from the Point Roberts Voters Association, which held its monthly meeting last Monday. On the agenda, was a visit from the County Treasurer and the Deputy County Administrator, which constitutes a fairly intense level of county participation, I’d say. The Voters Association is perennially concerned with questions about whether Point Roberts gets adequate attention (which is to say resources) from the County compared with the funds that Point Roberts generates for the County. I’ve mentioned before that I’m not clear exactly why so many people are convinced that there should be some parity on this funds in-funds out.

Certainly it’s not true of the U.S. more generally where states like California and New York pour vastly more money—per capita--into the federal government than comes back to them, whereas states like Mississippi and Alaska (states whose spokespersons are highly committed to the idea that the federal government is their enemy and is taking away their freedom of action) get lots more, per capita, from the feds than they send to the feds.

Well, it’s hard to be a taker all the time and I suppose that explains all this to-do from these taking states. By contrast, it ought to be morally pleasing at the very least to be able to give more than you get. It speaks to doing well, to generosity, to a community’s status as part of the solution not part of the problem. Thus, it seems to me that Point Roberts is in a position to be less of a whiner that it sometimes seems to be.

Unfortunately, I was already gone to the Sunshine Coast by the time the meeting occurred, so I don’t know whether anyone was convinced by the Treasurer or Deputy Administrator. I did hear from others, however, that the meeting was somewhat less than successful. The important agenda item was the question of the Voters Association merging with the Taxpayers Association. Whatever Point Roberts is, it isn’t a place that is big enough to accommodate two civic action groups, so this merger made a lot of sense. Both groups have trouble attracting steady members, but between them they might have enough to sustain and achieve something. The recent history is of tension between the Americans (who constitute the Voters group) and the Canadians (who are strong in the Taxpayers group). Was it going to be time to get past all that? I certainly hoped so.

But it turned out not to be. Although the Taxpayers had been supportive of the merger, the Voters voted, 8 to 7 against doing so, I am told. What they probably also voted for was our continuing to have ineffective community groups. At least 8 of the 15 attending Voters members wished to let the rest of us know that we are not all in this together. Perhaps the other seven would like to consider just joining the Taxpayers Association instead. That group seems to be showing the right spirit.