Moving costs may be more than we think | Letters | Oct. 21

Published 5:00 pm Thursday, October 21, 2010

In considering the transfer of the Bainbridge Island Municipal Court to Poulsbo, one important point seems to me to be slighted.

I can understand the desire to save the city the amount that the transfer offers – it is an obvious saving.

However, there is the hidden collection of expenses:

1) The cost in time and gas for Bainbridge residents to travel to Poulsbo and back; 2) The cost (cumulative if not a lump amount) in the additional wear and tear on SR-305; and 3) The cost in time, money, frustration and sometimes grief of an accident on the highway – far be it from me to wish this on anyone.

How much does it cost the city, fire department and police to respond to an accident? How much, if only in time lost, does it cost those who are waiting in the lines for the problem to be cleared up?

These costs don’t appear in the reckoning of the saving for moving the court, but in the end each one of us pays for them in the total expenses of living here. And if we really want to cut back on our consumption of oil, why should we make this extra trip to Poulsbo?

Or perhaps we should all move to Poulsbo and save the city and the highway and our nerves the extra wear and tear?

Anna Edmonds

Bainbridge Island