Dear Mayor and Federal Way City Council,

Please promise the citizens and business owners in Federal Way that you will not take precious resources away from police and public works to pay for a performing arts center (PAC). As you know, your last pet project, the community center, drains approximately $1 million out of the city budget each year. This is about the same cost as eight police officers or repaving 1 percent of the streets in town. This $1 million budget drain is in addition to a negative economic impact on the local business community of over $1.5 million.

Promise the citizens and business owners in Federal Way that the PAC will be funded 100 percent with private money and/or voter-approved tax increases. Please do not repeat the shenanigans used to build and fund the community center, which was done without voter approval, only to turn around and threaten insufficient police protection unless utility taxes were increased. A PAC won’t do our city a darn bit of good if it comes at further costs to public safety.

Mayor and city council, if you care about all of Federal Way’s citizens and business owners, and I believe you do, I challenge you to pass a binding resolution that the PAC will only be built with private funds and/or voter-approved tax increases.

Thank you for your dedication to our community.

Matthew Jarvis, Federal Way