While I thank Reps. Sullivan and Simpson for their vigilance on keeping state services located in Auburn, I am frustrated by their lack of seeing the bigger picture.

Our state is facing its largest budget deficit in history. Services must be cut to make the budget balance. As citizens, we will all suffer in this. The bottom line is we, as taxpayers, are only willing to pay so much in taxes and can only expect to get so much back in services. The desire to have our government provide us with more services than what we pay for is what has gotten our federal government so deep in debt.

I applaud the state for looking at ways of saving money. If closing some of the local licensing offices is one of those ways, then perhaps that is what is needed. The argument that by closing the Auburn office will turn a 15-minute trip into 45 minutes is weak. When I was growing up in Kent there was no licensing office there. When I took my driver’s test in 1977, I had to go to Auburn, the nearest office. Was this an inconvenience? No. It simply was where the office was. No one complained.

For those of us in South King County, there are still two offices available besides Kent: Federal Way and Puyallup. Will we have to wait in line longer? Probably. Is this the only state service to be cut? No. We can expect that the state is going to be cutting other services as it tightens its belt. I would be willing to buy their argument of keeping the Auburn office open if they offered other state services to be cut instead.

– Dan Whitaker