The Burien Residents Against Annexation Political Action Committee recently conducted one-on-one meetings with each of the Burien City Council members.

The purpose of these meetings was for the PAC to alert the council to serious problems in the budget numbers being provided by the city staff. The PAC also made them aware of significant cost omissions, which would negatively impact Burien, should they ultimately decide to annex all or part of North Highline.

It was particularly important for the PAC to have pointed out these discrepancies since the council voted against using an independent third party to validate the numbers being provided by city staff.

During these question-and-answer sessions, each council member was asked why they opposed an advisory vote on annexation when some had said in the last election campaign that they would be in favor of one if elected.

One council member said that the question of annexation was too complex an issue to allow the citizens to vote on. In fact, she said that she was having trouble understanding all the issues.

Another said that since we have a representative-type government system and since she was elected to represent the citizens, she was going to make the tough decision.

To the PAC this seemed somewhat contradictory to say that you are going to represent the citizens and then be against an advisory vote designed to find out how the citizens you represent actually feel.

Another thing we heard was that one of the council members was concerned about having Seattle right next to Burien. The PAC pointed out that Seattle would be right next to our border no matter what boundary is selected for annexation.

At the conclusion of these meetings each Burien council member was asked to cite one compelling reason why Burien should annex all or part of North Highline. Not one council member chose to answer the question. Only one Burien council member indicated that he was looking at this potential annexation from a Burien first perspective.

The PAC came away from these meetings with the impression that each council member was trying to find some way to make this annexation happen.

Representative of some of the other reasons cited for possible annexation was that "North Highline will grow their way out of their budget problems."

This statement, attributed to some anonymous source, is in direct conflict with the conclusions drawn by a consultant for the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council that concluded North Highline doesn't have a sufficient tax base to form its own city.

As a result of these meetings, the PAC felt it was necessary to start a petition drive to let the council know how Burien citizens actually feel about annexation. A petition opposed to any form of annexation of North Highline was kicked off by the PAC and in five days the PAC was able to get over 800 citizens and over 75 businesses to sign.

By having actually talked to hundreds of citizens and many of Burien's businesses, we are finding that opposition to any form of annexation is running over 90 percent.

The PAC intends to present the petitions at the July 17 city council meeting where, hopefully, the council will give some consideration to learning how Burien's citizens actually feel about annexation.

It is at the July 17 meeting that the council will decide on how to proceed regarding annexation. This is the most important issue that Burien and the council will ever have to address.

Even a partial annexation will lead to increased property taxes, more serious crime and will forever change the city's character for you and your children.

If Burien were to annex the 15,000 North Highline citizens that it is currently considering, Burien would have a larger population than Olympia. It is for these reasons that we are asking the citizens of Burien to take an hour out of their busy schedule and join their neighbors at City Hall on July 17 at 6:45 p.m., when the PAC will present the No Annexation petitions to the Burien council.

Since the council denied you an advisory vote on annexation, this is the only way that you can make your voices heard.

Editor's note: John Oliger, a Burien resident since 1948, is a member of The Burien Residents Against Annexation Political Action Committee.