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Commissioner explains his vote

To the editor:
During a hearing on Wednesday, July 16, regarding the county involvement in building libraries in Wyoming, Rush City, North Branch and the Chisago Lakes area, library advocates lobbied the county board to build four new larger libraries, take over ownership, pay all the maintenance and all other costs involved. Thatís a major commitment for the taxpayers at a time of great budget problems. Chisago County currently provides nearly $400,000 to the library system each year.
The state is taking $1 million away from our county next year which translates into a nearly $3 million loss to the county. That will have to be factored into the budget in some way.
We will have to build a jew jail ASAP because ours is full and we are shipping prisoners all over the state which costs us a couple hundred thousand dollars annually.
We also have major repairs needed at the court house. And we will have major costs in our communication system. This is not a good time to be talking about taking on a major non-emergency expense.
The county board is being asked to commit the taxpayers to a $4 to $6.5 million bond issue even before we know what the 2004 budget looks like. Even though (Commissioner Ben) Montzka has tried to ram this down our throats, a majority of the commissioners said ìWhoa, not so fast.î
No responsible unit of government would make that kind of decision in July when the preliminary budget will not be known until September.
Back in June the board, at a non-advertised hearing, voted to follow a certain timeline on the library issue. Montzka tried to violate that agreement and force a vote on July 16 because of a room full of library advocates. He tried a sneaky illegal move that didnít work. The board had not rescinded its previous motion.
He then tried to limit my discussion and when that didnít work, he criticized those of us who would not be intimidated by him or those at the meeting and said we were against libraries and kids if we did not agree to vote immediately for the large bond being discussed. He was obviously playing to a room full of library advocates.
I am one commissioner who will not make a decision to float a large bond until I know what the overall budget will be to the taxpayers. To do otherwise is irresponsible.
Those library advocates should be thankful Montzka was unable to force a vote at that meeting July 16 because it would have failed. Some of us commissioners do not like the dirty politics thatís been going on behind our backs and we needed more time to decide the scope of our financial involvement.
By tabling this project until our first meeting in September, I was able to keep the library issue alive.
Bob Gustafson
District 3 Commissioner
Chisago City

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