Fiscal Sanity In The Western 'Burbs PDF Print E-mail
Written by Lady Logician   
Thursday, 13 March 2008 13:24
Kudos to the County Boards of Scott and Carver Counties.  It looks like these two counties are going to be the first to stand up to the tax and spend DFL legislator.  Of course to hear the Star Tribune tell it....
 
Given how tight money and budgets are these days, it's hard to imagine any county government turning its back on millions of dollars.
But on Tuesday, there were indications that Carver and Scott counties would do just that by not partaking of a $100 million pot of money for metro-area counties that implement a recently approved quarter-cent optional sales tax for transit projects.
 
You would think, by reading the above two paragraphs that this "free money" was just there to be spent on whatever needs the county has....and not dedicated to mass transit.
 
"I don't know of any board member who supports joining," said Scott County Commissioner Jon Ulrich of Savage, a leader on transportation.
Ulrich questioned how much benefit his county would get given that Scott County doesn't have any plans for transitways, which are the main projects to be funded by the new taxes.

That is just it...not everyone paying INTO the lightrail fund will get money BACK.  What intelligent, thinking county board member would sign into something that will not benefit them. 

 
It's a bold move for the Scott and Carver County boards.  Granted, it sounds like they are the only brave ones....
 

Anoka Commissioner (Dan) Erhart doesn't yet have an opponent in next fall's election, but expects one.   He also expects to vote to impose the sales tax, and he expects that vote will be used against him in the next campaign....

At least he and Ramsey County Commissioner Tony Bennet are truthful about where the money is going...
 

"If we don't vote for this quarter-cent sales tax, it will hurt Anoka County," said Erhart.  The sales tax could bring in as much as $8 million a year for transit projects such as the North Star commuter rail line and the proposed passenger line to Duluth.  Without the sales tax, some of those operational costs would come from the property tax, he said.

Ramsey County Commissioner Tony Bennett is also up for re-election and faces a vote on imposing the sales tax.  In an interview this week with MinnPost, he said he hasn't decided on how to vote, but knows that without the sales tax, operating funds for the planned Central Corridor light rail project will fall on the property tax base.

 
And that is one of the biggest complaints that those of us who are opposed to this tax have.  We know that the money is going to pay for light rail trains (like the Central Corridor) that don't go where the people are or it goes to pay for rail in other counties that do not help our county!  But what gets to me is this attitude...
 

Bennett said commissioners who vote for it may take a political hit.  Bennett stopped short of saying the sales tax would offset property taxes on a dollar-for-dollar basis. But without the tax, he said, new transit operations would affect property taxes.  "Everybody pays it [the sales tax], including those from Wisconsin who shop here.  If we can take it off the property tax, it's a good trade."

Excuse me Commissioner Bennet but why in heavens name should the people of Anoka pay for bus service in Scott County and why should the people of Scott County pay for trains in Anoka?  Our buses don't help your traffic anymore than your trains help ours!  This is precisely the kind of thing that our counties SHOULD be responsible for.  This is not something that the people of Wisconsin should be forced to pay for.
 

It is past time for the city, county and state governments to sit down and figure out what their responsibilities are and then they need to quit trying to be all things to all people.

Cross Posted at Ladies Logic