TO THE EDITOR:

I am writing in response to Chisago County commissioner Olseenís partisan attack letter in our local papers. I have no desire to disrespect our commissioner; however, I believe he has ignored history and appears to be acting more as a conduit for the DFL party than a representative of our local interests.

I would like to remind everyone that the road problems we have today have taken years to develop, and our highway system was not invested in properly during the last 20 years as part of an attempt to discourage people from moving to the less developed parts of the Twin City area.

When I was involved in county and state transportation planning, as a Chisago County commissioner, other gas tax proposals were brought up, debated and defeated. At that time there was a great need for road investment too, but when our representatives and state senator voted them down, they were doing what they thought was right. As is often the case, there were many details in these bills, far more than a simple statement raising the tax. In that bill there was a new formula for the distribution of those tax dollars. Indeed some rural counties would have paid more taxes and received fewer funds for local roads.

I have not see the bill as passed, but I do believe that representatives Nelson, Eastlund and Sen. Nienow have carefully reviewed it and voted in what they thought was the best interests of us here in Chisago and Isanti counties. Just as in the 90s when the DFL controlled House and Senate voted no, they were correct in defeating new taxes with no new benefits. More than likely, if we could understand all of the details of this bill we would have voted no also.

Additionally, I would like to say to commissioner Olseen, when you were faced with outstanding financial needs for our county road system, you chose to borrow money rather than raise taxes. While many of us see the need to upgrade our roads, there is a large portion of our population that does not believe we can tax or borrow our way to prosperity.

Our county board needs to make a greater effort to work together and work with our state representatives and senator and leave this attack politics behind. It does not serve the interests of the citizens of Chisago County.

Russell R. Goudge
Former commissioner

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