Excess levies have paper’s endorsement

Yes, you might say we’re jumping to conclusions again.
But this time only to the May 12 primary and in a far more low profile election.
The Dominion Post is endorsing all four existing excess levies in Monongalia County on the 2020 primary ballot.
Approved by voters in May 2016 by super majorities (more than 60%) these four-year levies have all proved their worth and these public funds have all been well managed by the agencies receiving them.
Clearly, the levy funding the county’s 12 volunteer fire departments won by the largest majority — almost 75% — in 2016, and for good reason.
These VFDs serve as a lifeline to people in harm’s way in much of our county and provide public services that often go well beyond their missions.
In the case of public transit funding for the Mountain Line Transit Authority, this service is also invaluable to thousands of residents in Morgantown, our county and on WVU’s campus, who rely on this bus service.
It also operates the Grey Line, which provides inter-city bus service to regional cities near and far.
And it almost goes without saying the added public funding for our city’s and county’s parks and trails is all well spent on vital recreation opportunities.
Are our parks in the Morgantown area and across the county where we all want them to be? No. But this funding is essential to maintenance, repairs and improvements.
Finally, endorsement of the excess levy funding for our library system goes well beyond it being another source of the printed word, real facts and information.
Libraries are essential to our society for any number of reasons, including education and research, and have kept pace with a world of digital offerings.
Those are among some of the best reasons for endorsing these levies voters will ultimately decide to renew, or not, more than 10 weeks from now.
But if you are like many people, your first question might have been “What’s this going to cost me?”
The rates on three of the four will remain unchanged and on the fourth one — the excess levy for VFDs — rates would actually drop the first year, rise slightly in the next three years but still end lower than the existing rate.
Yes, we only endorsed the essential fire service and public transit levies in 2016. However, we insisted then that the community cannot afford to ignore the quality of life issues these other levies represented.
To their credit, voters went the extra mile to support our library system and our parks and recreation facilities.
In the past and potentially in the future, it’s not enough to rely on certain revenues we thought were forever that once helped fund these services.
Now, more than ever, it’s ourselves and ourselves alone who must determine what services we want and how we’re going to pay for them.
That’s no leap in logic, either. Just a new reality.