As a current city councilwoman and citizen of Snoqualmie, I am convinced that balance is the key to a successful future for the city of Snoqualmie – balance in our spending, balance in our revenues and balance in the services we offer our citizens. Mayoral candidate Matt Larson has the experience, the dedication and the progressive thinking needed to bring the city into balance in all of these areas.

I have watched Matt become increasingly involved in city politics over the past seven years and for most of that time, Matt has found himself swimming upstream, often challenging values and goals that did not seem to serve the city as a whole. Yet, while bringing the concerns of Ridge citizens to city officials, he remained a fair, respectful and steadfast supporter of our historic district, actively working to address the needs of the entire city.

Due in large part to his dedication, the past 18 months have brought change to the political environment in our city, allowing Matt an opportunity to work in tandem with new officials and city staff to completely uncover our systemic budget problems and do something about them. We all owe Matt a great deal of thanks for his persistence and leadership. If the former budget trajectory had been allowed to continue, we would have landed in a serious budget crisis requiring drastic cuts in public service. Instead, Matt’s work helped us identify these problems in time so that we can make the right choices in order to preserve and enhance our city’s future.

Much has been said about Matt’s approach to the public safety budget and many rumors about outsourcing to King County have been spread for political gain by a small, but vocal, group of people, causing concern among the public and among our police and fire departments and their families. This is truly unfortunate and unacceptable in my book. I have had the opportunity to work closely with Matt over the past two years and can assure you that:

* Matt respects and appreciates the contributions of all of our local firefighters and police officers;

* Matt will make sure that our wage and benefit packages are competitive in order to attract and keep the best people in our public safety departments;

* Matt will settle for nothing less than excellent fire and police services for our community; and

* Matt will make sure that the taxpayers are not overpaying for that service.

I would encourage you to visit MattforMayor.com or speak to Matt personally about his views on this and other topics. I think you will come away secure in the knowledge that Matt is the right choice for mayor of Snoqualmie. He has my vote on Nov. 8. Please consider giving him yours.

Maria Henriksen

City Councilwoman

Snoqualmie