Wyman said that voters have become predictable in mailing in their ballots. About 15 percent come in on the first two days after the ballots are mailed out. These are mostly political junkies and seniors. About 50 percent come in the final weekend before the election. The rest dribble in during the election cycle.

She also said that about 50 percent of voters drop their ballots into the 10 ballot boxes scattered around the county, with the other 50 percent mailing them in.

It’s the old kicking the can down the road, except this time they kicked the can into their neighbor’s backyard. Local governments were given the ability to raise a number of taxes, without a vote of the taxpayers.

The state budget does almost nothing to stop future budget shortfalls. It’s predicted that by 2014, the next budget cycle, the state will still be $6 billion dollars short. And while revenue continues to increase each year, the cost of government continues to increase even faster.

Everyone knows the answer. Cut the cost of government.

Increases in government are built in. While state workers may not get cost of living wages every year, they do get step increases every year. And while, the amount state workers pick up for their medical insurance is also increasing, the cost of medical care continues to be to high.

The state legislature has to buck its union friends and re-define basic education. The recent State Supreme Court decision didn’t say that the state had to pay more for basic education. All the legislature has to lower its definition of basic education and cut out all of those non-educational activities that we pay for every year.

There’s much that could have been done, if the legislature had the moxie. But we’re represented by weak leaders, afraid of their friends, and unable to make sound financial decisions.

So they kicked the can into their neighbor’s backyard.

There is finally a bit of good news from Olympia. The state’s Revenue Forecast Council reports that tax revenues for this biennium will be $96 million higher than projected last November, and state tax collections for 2013-15 are projected to grow by 6.6 percent.

But we shouldn’t get too excited. Even with this additional revenue and the cuts the Legislature made in December’s special session, lawmakers still need to make up about a $1 billion deficit to balance the budget.

Even if they manage to close the gap this time, the basic problem remains: The state budget is unsustainable. Without systemic change, we face a future of ever larger deficits.

As Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup, points out, “Even if we do pass more taxes or make the kind of cuts this year, the long term projection on our state budget basically has to be dealt with or else we’ll be in deficits every single year for the next five years.”

Kastama explains that Washington takes in $15 billion a year, but the budget spends $16 billion. If we do nothing, annual revenues are expected to grow to almost $19 billion by 2017, but our state’s expenses will grow even faster — to $22 billion. Because the state budget is based on a two-year cycle, that means in 2017 our budget deficit will grow to $6.6 billion.

Raising taxes isn’t the solution. Even if legislators increase taxes by a billion dollars, the 2017 budget will still have a $4.4 billion deficit.

Unfortunately, elected officials have a history of kicking the can down the road, avoiding the tough choices that Kastama advocates in favor of temporary fixes. That’s like putting a Band-Aid on a severed artery. When the state budget is hemorrhaging red ink, it can’t get better until we fix the underlying problems.

So, what’s wrong with limping along with temporary fixes hoping the economy perks up on its own? Look at what’s happening in Illinois.

With billions of dollars of unpaid bills, Illinois is now known as “The Deadbeat State.” Even after passing a $7 billion tax increase last year, including a “temporary” state income tax, the situation remains dire because state lawmakers refuse to make needed pension, regulatory and budget reforms.

The Illinois governor’s suggestion? Borrow more money.

When politicians turn a blind eye to systemic problems, they fester and grow. It sends a powerful message to employers: “Stay away.”

For example, Caterpillar Inc., headquartered in Illinois, is the world’s largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines. Caterpillar is to Illinois what Boeing is to Washington state.

But in a recent Chicago Tribune editorial, CEO Doug Oberhelman pointed out that, while Caterpillar announced plans for dozens of new factories over the last few years and its U.S. workforce increased by more than 14,500 in the last 10 years, none of that growth occurred in Illinois. In fact, the Caterpillar Illinois workforce is the same as it was 10 years ago. Oberhelman noted that, “…when Caterpillar and most other companies look to locate a new factory in the U.S., Illinois is not in the running.”

The reason: Illinois’ high cost of doing business and the legislature’s failure to pass a sustainable budget — the same problems employers face in Washington.

Our situation isn’t that bad yet, but it underscores the need to develop a budget that lives within the revenues the state collects. Instead of passing temporary fixes so they can adjourn and campaign for re-election, state legislators need to overhaul the budget. That’s a real solution that will foster economic growth and create jobs.

About the Author

Don Brunell is the president of the Association of Washington Business. Formed in 1904, the Association of Washington Business is Washington’s oldest and largest statewide business association, and includes more than 7,800 members representing 650,000 employees. AWB serves as both the state’s chamber of commerce and the manufacturing and technology association. While its membership includes major employers like Boeing, Microsoft and Weyerhaeuser, 90 percent of AWB members employ fewer than 100 people. More than half of AWB’s members employ fewer than 10. For more about AWB, visit www.awb.org.

The first trend is Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM). Not only is it one of the largest military bases in the country, but it is the Third largest employer in Washington State. It was JBLM’s economic impact that helped Thurston County weather the current recession, according to Sunde.

“We’re still a government town,” she said. “What happens in state government impacts us.” Sunde said that while state government has experienced some reductions in employment, more is on the way.

Our location, on Interstate Five, midway between Seattle and Portland is a positive for future growth. We are also a regional hub for medical services and education. With The Evergreen State College, St. Martin’s University and South Puget Sound Community College, Thurston County draws students from all around the area.

With the state capitol as a draw, we are also on the map for tourism, Sunde said. A new tourism director is a major plus in that effort.

A negative is our lack of land for future development. The potential listing of the Pocket Gopher as a threatened species, could take even more land out of use.

And finally, she pointed to regional cooperation among the various jurisdictions as a positive reason for locating in Thurston County.

Sunde will be my guest on the February 28 edition of Decision Makers Tuesday at Two on KGY radio 1240 AM.

But, I do know that what happened in Greece recently has a significant impact on the United States and sets the stage for what could happen here.

Greece is part of the European Union and uses the Euro as its currency. Greece has been in financial problems for a decade or more and has borrowed money to survive. It was in danger of defaulting on its loans and that would impact the international banking community and all of the countries in which those banks operate.

So, the European Union bailed them out to the tune of $170 billion dollars, on top of the $145 billion dollars it had borrowed previously just to pay its bills.

All the Greeks had to do to get the money is adopt an austerity program that would cut down on the cost of government and government spending.

OK – they were draconian (also a Greek word, I think) which means tough. A 20 percent deduction in government workers and a 40 percent cut in pay and benefits. That’s where the rioting comes in.

Greek government workers and those depending on government handouts were doing the rioting. They just couldn’t conceive that the government’s purse had run dry.

For several decades, since the advent of democracy and the overturn of military rule, Greece had been living on borrowed money. The government employs a significant number of people with great benefits like very early retirement. The running joke was if you wanted to find a Greek government worker, just go to the local coffee shop and take your pick.

The Greeks were also notorious for not paying their taxes. The government turned its head as Greek after Greek ducked taxes and participated in the underground economy.

So, in order to remain popular and give the people what they wanted, it borrowed money to pay for the social welfare programs.

Now the tab has come due.

You can’t continue to expand government; you can’t continue to ignore people who don’t pay their taxes; you can’t continue to borrow money to pay for government welfare programs.

Does any of this sound familiar? Can we learn any lessons from Greece?

Only if we pay attention.

But, more to the point, when was the last time you saw your senator or your congress member, in person?

It’s been a long time hasn’t it? And, chances are fairly good that you won’t see your elected congressional representative in person unless you’re personally invited to a meeting or belong to a Rotary Club.

You see, since 2008 and the rise of the Tea Party, your elected representative has been reluctant to venture out in public and rub shoulders with the masses. The last time they tried it, they were jostled and shouted down.

Then last year, Arizona representative Gabrielle Gifford was shot while holding an open public meeting with her constituents.

There haven’t been any public meetings between federal elected officials and the general public in Washington state, since.

When our congresswoman, Jaime Herrera Beutler comes to town, as she will this week, she only comes to organized semi-private events. She’s never held a public open house here, nor do I suspect in Vancouver, her home area.

The last time I went to a open house for a congress member was three years ago for Congressman Adam Smith. It was packed with people wanting to complain and almost shouting the congressman down. Smith did a good job of keeping it under control, but I don’t think he’s held another one since.

With congress’s approval rate at 10 percent you can’t expect that people are going to tell our senators and congress members that they’re doing a good job.

But, we can expect some civility. We can expect people to act responsibly and we can respect the office if not the person.

However, we’re not going to get the chance. Unless you are the member of a privileged group, or have a great deal of money to contribute, you’re probably not going to see your congress member or senator.

They’ve just disappeared from public view.

It appears that councilmembers and city staff still see downtown as the key to the city’s success and still want to see a vibrant and flourishing downtown business sector.

They’ve talked about several ways to bring that about, most of which require more money and consequently more taxes.

There’s a lot to be said about downtown Olympia. It has some of the best restaurants in the area. It has many unique shops and retail outlets selling one-of-a-kind products, and many items you can’t buy anywhere else. It’s unique beauty at the foot of Puget Sound adds a luster that you won’t find in a shopping mall or major retail center.

Helping downtown Olympia are the taxpayers. Millions of dollars of taxpayer money has been pumped into the downtown area to make it interesting and attractive. Percival Landing, the Farmers Market, The Washington Center, the Hands on Children’s Museum, the new city hall, are all taxpayer financed efforts on the part of Olympia mothers and fathers to make the downtown area a cultural icon.

But problems still exist which create concerns about the viability of downtown Olympia. Businesses come and go and empty store fronts abound. Groups of young people congregate on the street corners and parks. The homeless look to Olympia streets as areas in which they can find some peace and security. And social service agencies are headquartered in and around downtown.

Parking, and the perception of parking problems continue to confound and discourage shoppers.

To look at solving these problems, city officials are looking at a number of new taxes, among which are: utility tax increases, property tax increases and business and occupation tax increases.

These are all taxes which hit small business the hardest. These are the taxes which plague business which are struggling just to survive.

If the council want to create a vibrant, exciting and successful downtown it has to do a few things. It has to eliminate excessive city regulation which stifle business expansion. It has to do away with downtown parking meters and create more free parking.

And, it has to stop talk of more business taxes.

Those are things it can do – - but it won’t. So downtown will always be a problem, no matter how much taxpayer money is funneled into it.

That’s the assessment of Lacey’s Director of Public Works Scott Egger. “The recent good weather has allowed the contractor to lay down asphalt and that should continue through the weekend,” he said. “We hope to be open by Wednesday, if the weather holds.”

Egger said there would still be some traffic control needed but drivers would be able to get through.

The Carpenter Road project widens the street to four lanes, with a median and bike lanes. Cost of construction was just a little over $7 million. Right-of-way and design work adds to the cost.

Incidentally you should also receive your property tax statement next week. I’m sure there’s no coincidence between the date of the school levy and the day your receive your property tax notification.

The Olympia School District has a $98 million dollar bond issue up for approval – and no matter what I say – voters in the Olympia district will approve the bond issue. But, I’m going to say it anyway.

Olympia doesn’t need the bond issue. It needs to redraw its school boundaries and move students from over-crowded classrooms into schools with empty classrooms. I don’t live in the Olympia School District but I do have grandchildren living there, and I don’t think the Olympia School District needs the bond issue – - at least not in these hard financial times.

But, the maintenance and operations levies are a different breed of money. These operation levies constitute from 20 to 25 percent of local school district budgets. The levies fund teachers, athletics, transportation and other educational activities. Depending on the school district, the levy will cost the owner of a single-family home around $850 a year, more if you have one of those million dollar homes.

The districts are quick to point out that these levies replace the current levies and adds little more to your property tax bill. From a look at the levy requests,each will increase about five percent a year for the next four years – - above the rate of inflation. School administrators say the increase will not go to salaries but will be needed to off set the cost of utilities, gas and food.

Thanks to the generosity of the state legislature, maintenance and operation levies now only require a bare majority of 50 percent to pass.

It’s Superbowl something or another. I can’t remember just how those Roman numerals work. It has to be close to number 46 or 47, somewhere in there.

I remember the first Superbowl – - Green Bay vs Kansas City, I think. It was so long ago that it’s hard to recall. But the real hype for the Superbowl started a year or two later and became a reality when the New York Jets won Superbowl III and made Joe Namath a star and brought parity to the American and National football leagues.

Since then, Superbowl Sunday has become one of America’s biggest party days. It’s second only to New Years Eve for the number of parties and second only to Thanksgiving for the amount of food consumed.

And, while the Superbowl is about football, it’s really about more than football. It’s about everything connected with football and more. The Superbowl represents what’s fun about America.

Who won the Superbowl last year? I can’t remember. But I do remember some of the television ads from last year and I particularly remember Betty White. I can’t remember what she was advertising, but I do remember the commercial.

The ads on Superbowl Sunday have become a contest of their own. A 30-second spot can cost as much as $3.5 million; but a good one will be remembered for years. And, following the game will be a critique of the ads themselves and the next day people will vote on which ad they liked best. Is that America – - or what?

And, then there’s the half time show. All of the greats have played the Superbowl half time show. Most remembered of course was Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake and the wardrobe malfunction.

Madonna will be the half time entertainment this time. People are going to tune in to see if the material girl will top the event and be the subject of conversation on Monday.

And, then there’s the game itself – - a replay of 2008 – - when the New York Giants beat the undefeated New England Patriots. I’m rooting for the Giants this year, because the Seahawks beat them on their own home field earlier in the season.

Yes, Superbowl Sunday pulls the largest TV audience every year. It’s one of the biggest days in America every year.

Ain’t this a great country?