Letter to the Editor, Posted: 6/14/05
TO THE EDITOR:
In his public criticism of our vote against the Transportation Bill vetoed in May, Rick Olseen accuses us of putting a special interest group ahead of the best interests of our area. His allegation is flat out wrong and likely motivated by politics and not the betterment of Chisago County.
The truth is that the Transportation Bill was unconstitutional and unfair to our area. First of all, the bill transfers money from the Highway Fund to the General Fund, which everyone agrees is unconstitutional.
If this bill had been signed by the governor, it would never have withstood the ensuing court challenge. Mr. Olseen should not be so quick to jump onboard a bill so obviously flawed.
Second, the bill was grossly unfair to all of us. Instead of putting a reasonable 5 cent gas tax increase before the voters in the form of a Constitutional Amendment, which is something we would support, this bill would have forced a 10 cent increase without voter approval.
We also object to the sudden and very steep increase in license tab fees. We believe revenue increases may be necessary, but they should be incremental to lessen their impact on your pocketbooks. We also have serious objections about the over emphasis on transit contained in the bill.
We supported a bill that would dedicate 70 percent of the Motor Vehicle Sales Tax to roads and bridges.
The Transportation bill we voted against said no more than 60 percent could go for roads and at least 40 percent must go to transit at all times.
This created the very real possibility that 100 percent of the tax you pay on your vehicle would go to buses and trains instead of the roads we use every day in Chisago County. No legislator or elected official should support such an unfair policy.
Mr. Olseen makes it sound like local bridges and roads will be left to crumble because of the Transportation Bill. Nothing could be further from the truth.
We funded $92 million worth of local bridge replacements, road improvements, and trunk highway projects in our bonding bill. That in itself is a major step forward and is good for our area. Raising taxes on our constituents and sending their money to inner city bus routes does not represent District 17 and it is bad for Chisago County.
We certainly will do not support a ěpay more, get lessî approach to transportation funding. We urge ambitious county commissioners like Mr. Olseen to also reject such an unfair idea.
Pete Nelson, State
Representative,
District 17B
Rob Eastlund,
State Representative,
District 17A
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