Kurt Triplett, City Manager for Kirkland, is one of the highest paid city managers on the Eastside.

In addition to his $174,000 salary, he gets a generous car allowance and other benefits and perks. So Mr. Triplett can meet the residency requirements for the city manager position, the Kirkland Council waived the residency requirement and then approved the use of taxpayers money to pay Mr. Triplett $25,000 so he can rent a city-owned house while he tries to sell his house in Seattle. His Seattle house is worth less than his mortgage, so Mr. Triplett, join the other millions of Americans who are upside down on their mortgages. This is an outrageous insult to the taxpayers of Kirkland, and the council should reconsider this overly generous offer to Mr. Triplett.

Gee, maybe he will have to sell his Seattle house at a loss, or maybe he should rent his house in Seattle while he rents in Kirkland. Millions of Americans are making financial sacrifices every day, and with Kirkland financially strapped, the taxpayers shouldn’t be subsidizing the city manager’s rental cost, period. This at a time when the city can’t afford to keep public restrooms open, when they have removed garbage cans in parks, reduced general services, raised our taxes, and furloughed city employees. The Kirkland Council has a major disconnect with reality. We should vote them all out of office. How about using the $25,000 to hire seasonal park help, or use it to fix pot holes in the streets, or just about anything but this incredible waste.

Patrick Harris, Kirkland