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Lack of tax balance is problem

To the editor:
More lame duck soup from the North Branch City Council. This time the lame duck city council voted to fill positions with terms expiring at the end of the year. While this may be a standard operating procedure in our city, it ends up putting people into positions that reflect the values of the outgoing council. As a result, persons that are defeated in the municipal election because they do not represent the views of the citizens are appointed to city commissions. The county has taken some criticism for not being open to the public, but they wait for the new county board to make those appointments.
You have to ask who is running this city? The city has not published its newsletter in over one year. The city has not kept its web site up-to-date. And remember they voted 4-1 to expand the Municipal Urban Service Area (MUSA) to include a 160-acre parcel that was scheduled to be in the MUSA in 2007, after the city planning commission voted against it and after the majority of citizens at the public hearing spoke out against such action. Remember who our non-resident mayor said he was listening to; it wasnít the planning commission or the citizens at the hearing. Our lame duck non-resident mayor along with three other city council members - Erickson, Pace, and Lofquist - voted for it. They knew that if they waited until next month, they would not have the votes to impose that change on the public.
Last week the city council had its truth-in-taxation hearing. Few people attended. The actual increase in the total budget was reasonable. However, if you look at line items you would note that public works increased by 10.39 percent and city engineer by 127.64 percent, while parks and library budgets were decreased by 2.24 percent and 14.61 percent, respectively. You might also be surprised that the total city tax for a $150,000 house increased from $468.35 to $653.51 (Old Branch) or $576.59 to $727.98, 39.5 percent or 26 percent over 2001. The real problem, however, is the lack of tax property balance in our city; weíre more than 90 percent residential. This is one reason that it is so difficult to pass a school bond issue and why there is congestion at our I-35 ramps; more than 75 percent of commute to the cities for work. We need more rental and affordable housing, often called workforce housing, to help attract industry to our area and provide housing for new teachers and service workers. We also need a more responsive city council, one that doesnít use its lame duck powers for the benefit of developers and the expense of the public.
Robert G. Walz
North Branch

Editor's note: The city attorney for North Branch believes there is enough evidence to show that outgoing Mayor Roger Else is still a resident of the city. He said it is up to the council to decide if they want to question his residency.

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