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From: Jean Kalmes
Rollingstone, Minn.
We have received a recent large cardboard mailing from an incumbent member of the Winona County Board.
Three statements are made which logic tells us could not be true. First, that taxes are reduced. The newspapers this week said the Winona County levy will be reduced by 3%. This is a decision which is supposed to be made in December of this year, not October. This is akin to the lower price we are paying for gas at the moment. Isn’t it strange just before the election? Well, city folks may have lower taxes as the worth of their homes has declined. Farmers, however, have a higher value placed on their land, which I think a rural board member should know. So taxes on rural land are much higher, not lower. I would also like to know how government has been reduced in size. We have a big new addition on the service building. We have the rent of the huge former bank. We have the original courthouse and jail. The population of Winona has stayed the same for years, yet all of this space has been added. How has that reduced the cost and size of government?
Then we have to consider that $600,000 of funds were secretly set aside so the addition could be added to the service building without a say by the public. Every building must be lighted, heated, air conditioned, supplied with computers, and cleaned and kept in repair, supplied with furniture, paper towels and other essentials. How could that be less, especially if all personnel has been retained?
The new recycling containers and service all over the county except St. Charles, which has its own plan and yet is paying part of ours, has to be an added expense and more government. If we must constantly attack one’s opponents, make unbelievable statements, and spend funds for ads in the newspaper and on the radio, we might conclude that anything goes if we want to keep our position no matter how far from the truth the statements may be. We heard very little from some of the board who tended to just rubber stamp the suggestions of the administrator until election time. Vote for change.
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