State representatives Judy Clibborn (D-Mercer Island), Marcie Maxwell (D-Renton) and Senator Randy Gordon (D-Bellevue) met a packed auditorium at Eastgate Elementary school on Feb. 20, filled with Eastsiders who had a thing or two to say about the state of Washington’s ailing budget.

Most of those attending the town hall meeting were concerned with cuts in education and welfare, as well bills currently being heard in Legislature. The 41st District representatives, calling out a list of names to hear individual questions, responded to each concern with candid directness — only shying away from the crux of the matter a few times.

“Now we’re at the point where we’re cutting programs that people say are good investments,” Clibborn said. “There are no easy cuts left. The cuts we’re doing now are the hard ones.”

As many of those in attendance were residents of Bellevue, education — as it is on Mercer Island — was a prioritized issue.

According to recent estimates, the current proposed budget for the Bellevue Public School District for 2010-2011 is approximately $400 in cuts for additional K-12 funding.

Teachers and parents in the audience spoke up about this alarming statistic.

“Here in Bellevue we have no librarians in our schools. We have one nurse per school but kids get sick every day. We’re cutting teachers and we’re 46th in the nation for class size. It’s very real and it’s impacting us,” said one parent.

Maxwell, who has taken an active stance on education, reminded her listeners that there are currently two bills in the state Legislature that are working to secure money for Washington schools.

“There are many important issues that we’re working on right now. Some of this started last year with House Bill 2261 which was for basic education reform and funding. We made some very strong commitments in the Legislature and it’s important for us to keep those commitments. We are working on the implementation of this particular bill,” she said.

The representative added that a new bill, HB 2776, is adding to the Legislature’s commitment to education.

According to Maxwell, HB 2776 establishes a new school funding model that will “simplify the budgeting process and increase transparency.” It requires a “phase-in” of smaller classes of 15 students in Kindergarten through third grade by the 2015-2016 school year, along with more funding for maintenance and operation costs. The bill will implement a new student transportation funding method, as well as push for teacher compensation.

In addition to education, Health Care was a loud concern. One woman in the audience said that health care plans should have fewer mandates from the state, which would ultimately bring down costs.

Clibborn, who has been working on health care legislation, responded.

“Right now we have a bill that allows us to bring in some health care competition and get the prices down,” she said. “Now when it comes to mandates, this is the ongoing battle. If you could get something that was really cheap and didn’t do much, would you be happy? People are always arguing about whether we should have these mandates, and in this case we’ve chosen to do that. There are mandate-free policies out there and they do not sell.”

To little surprise, another hot topic was the issue of increasing state taxes.

“If you continue to raise taxes, you’ll put more and more people dependent on the government. And this is what you’re doing,” one audience member cried out.

Sen. Gordon was quick to take the microphone in response to the crowd’s vociferous concern.

“Simply raising taxes does not increase revenues. Let’s all agree on that,” he clarified. “Every time we raise the sales tax according to moderate calculations, 22 percent of retail sales go across the border. Those taxes simply don’t work.”

Gordon also drove home his vow to keep property taxes from going up this year.

“You can sleep tonight knowing that there will be no property tax hikes in the state of Washington this year.”

Although Gordon received applause and validation for much of what he said, many of those attending Saturday’s meeting were skeptical. Public questions well outran the hour-and-a-half time limit the legislators were given, and more than a dozen people lined up after the meeting express their concerns face-to-face with Clibborn, Maxwell and Gordon.

On the side of representatives, the overall tone of the town meeting was conciliatory and optimistic.

“One of the things I think that we will not have an all-cuts budget this year, and we will not have an all-revenue budget this year. I think where we will be, when we are done, is some where half-and-half,” Clibborn told her audience.

For more information on issues facing the 2010 legislature, visit: www.leg.wa.gov. For information on the state budget, vist: www.fiscal.wa.gov.