Incentivize Community Service and Volunteerism
In my perspective, I see cities similar to how I see teams. As residents of Bremerton, we’re all on the same team, and we should all desire to improve our team any way we can. We’re not necessarily in competition with other teams, or other cities, but we should be in competition with our past selves.
As a city, year after year, we should try to improve as many stats as we can. If we notice that our crime or poverty rate has increased this year as compared to last, we should work together as a community to improve these areas. If a community only waits for City Officials to address and fix all of the problems, very little progress will ever be made. When the community comes together to solve problems instead of relying on the government, it’s often less expensive, more efficient, and more rewarding. I want to promote community service and volunteerism to help lower taxes, aid those in poverty, and revitalize Bremerton.
I am a huge fan of what the Bremerton School District Board of Advisors did when they created the “Senior Tax Exchange Program” (STEP) to incentivize school volunteers. In a nutshell, STEP is an incentive program that helps seniors on fixed incomes pay for their rising property taxes. This program has literally prevented many of our elderly residents from losing their homes.
In addition to how much this program helps seniors, it also greatly benefits students of the Bremerton School District. Our teachers need support to be able to handle the growing amount of students in their classrooms. Having too many students and not enough support decreases the quality of the education that the students receive.
STEP volunteers help the schools’ administrative staff handle all sorts of issues; they help teachers by taking on some of their ancillary tasks; they also give the students the additional support they need. The Senior Tax Exchange Program helps our students, teachers, seniors, and the entire community. These students are our future, we must ensure that they receive the quality education they deserve.
Another great volunteer program is the “Bremerton Citizens Auxiliary Patrol” (BCAP), which uses community members to augment the Bremerton Police Department. Residents enrolled in this program patrol the city, business districts, parks, and marinas to check for suspicious activity, vandalism, and unsecured property. With growing crime rates, having more eyes and ears patrolling the community will help us decrease the rate of crime and become a safer city.
There are many other amazing volunteer opportunities available in Bremerton, but we can still make some significant improvements in this area. For the Senior Tax Exchange Program, the Bremerton School District issues checks to volunteers which goes towards the school portion of their property taxes.
I would love to emulate programs like STEP on a city level, to incentivize volunteerism by offering tax breaks on things such as utility and property taxes.
If Bremerton focuses more priority on organizing, utilizing, and incentivizing volunteerism, it will make our community a much better place. Community service will help people in poverty, improve our educational systems, decrease crime rates, and make people proud of their community; and it won’t require any additional taxes to achieve these goals.
To set the example, and show you how important I think volunteerism is, If I’m elected to the Bremerton City Council, I will propose that we nullify the City Council’s salary, or at least lower it. I would be honored to serve as a volunteer on the Bremerton City Council.
If you like what I have to say, please make sure you vote for me in the Primaries.
-John Johanson
Bremerton City Council, District 3 Candidate
Vote for me in the Primary Election, before August 3rd, 2021