Boyer emphasizes fiscal focus and transparency in council bid
30-year Sammamish resident Michael Boyer, 64, does not live the life of a typical politician. He built a career in business consulting, enjoys weekly Bigfoot search expeditions, has never served in public office, and jokes that he filed to run because “my wife told me to.”
Yet, Boyer believes his experience gives him a unique perspective as he campaigns for Sammamish City Council Position No. 5 in the November general election.
“My background is in engineering and business school, and a PhD after that. So I’m very technical, and boy, have I seen a number of budgets in my life. All those different views have brought me to a place where I can look at something and bring us to common ground,” Boyer said in an interview with the Sammamish Independent.
Boyer lists fiscal responsibility as one of his top priorities. He pointed to the structural imbalance identified by the city in 2022 as a key issue and said raising revenue is necessary to keep Sammamish financially stable.
Boyer put his concern for the City’s budget into action when he joined the Fiscal Sustainability Taskforce, which unanimously recommended one of the City’s more recent funding measures.
“I was on a team that came up with the 6% utility tax. And do I like that? No, but it seemed to be what I would call a least-worst choice,” Boyer said.
Boyer explained that funding alternatives included installing traffic cameras that would send out automatic tickets for running red lights, taxing golf courses on the Plateau or Klahanie, or increasing the city’s sales tax. According to Boyer, these options would not only fall short of generating sufficient revenue but would also create daily inconveniences.
On the City’s town center development, Boyer supports the concept but has concerns about its potential impact and the lack of financial data.
“In my business practice, whenever I would work on a project, we wouldn’t go forward with an investment unless we developed a business case and a full financial analysis. But right now we’re all thinking, wow, [the town center will be] double the houses in Klahanie with a fraction of the space — what’s that going to do to our schools, our traffic, and our environment?” Boyer said.
To improve transparency, Boyer wants the City to share more detailed information through its bimonthly newsletters. He said residents too often turn to sources like Nextdoor or Facebook for speculation, which he believes spread misinformation and tension.
“The newsletter that comes out from the City is almost oversimplified. We have a very smart youth, and we have a lot of people with complex jobs who can handle more information,” Boyer said.
Boyer believes that improving communications will resolve the largest, overarching problem that the city council has been facing.
“Right now, there’s this belief that all of this development with the town center is not for the benefit of the residents, but more of a benefit for the developers. We need to take matters head-on and be very transparent and open.” Boyer said.
Michael Boyer is running for Sammamish City Council Position No. 5.
