Letter - Now is not the time for a new LEC

Talk about it

To the editor:

After reading the Echo, I noticed an article in the Alexandria City Council notes that the county wants to delay the joint law enforcement center because of the economy and that this is not the time to do this project.

Well, hats off to the commissioners. At least someone is realizing that we can’t continue down this road of uncontrolled spending. I attended the joint meeting between the county and the city on this project and listened to all the data presented and it looks like it’s the right direction to go, but this is not the time and that is exactly what three county commissioners stated. It was stated in that meeting that this project would be a 9 percent increase to the city taxpayers (that’s if the county foots half the bill). Granted, there are all these special things, like paying interest only for the first five years and that would keep the tax increase to a minimum, but at some point in time you need to pay the bill. I guess that will be up to the next generation.

The city gave the county until October 1 to opt in or opt out. To me this is a no-brainer and to opt out would be the route. I know people are hearing that we’re coming out of the recession and all looks good but the experts are saying the metro areas are beginning to come out of it, but the rural areas will lag a couple of years. What’s wrong with waiting a couple of years and giving this area time to recover? The economists keep telling us that consumer spending is critical to getting out of a recession, but that’s hard to do if our local governments keep increasing taxes.

Rod K. Johnson

Alexandria, MN

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