There appears to be a campaign to discredit Marlys Larsen in her bid for re-election to the Spicer city council.
In the Oct. 16 edition of the Lakes Area Review, Dennis Baker tried to show that Larsen didn't know what she was talking about when she questioned the $50,000 cost of the new "Welcome to Spicer" signs.
Baker stated that the signs were not paid for by the Spicer taxpayers. He tried to get people to believe MnDOT paid for the signs when he stated that the funds came from money received from MnDOT for property and easement acquisitions.
If city property was sold, wouldn't that money belong to the residents? Doesn't that mean the signs were paid for with taxpayers money? Isn't this money that could have been used to reduce our excessive property taxes or reduce the outrageous assessments that may cause some lower income residents to lose their homes?
The City Council voted to spend $150,000 to improve the ballpark. The improvements are geared to bring in revenue to local businesses.
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Residents don't benefit from this. Businesses don't pay income taxes to the city. Should we be spending money on a ballpark when some residents could lose their houses due to high property taxes?
Larsen and Ron Schneider voted against spending money on the signs and the ballpark. Larsen and Schneider are the people's representatives that are watching how our tax dollars are being spent.
Remember Avidigm? Larsen and Schneider were the ones that led the fight to stop the 14-story condo. Do Mayor Bill Taylor and Dennis Baker still think that it would be good for the city?
We need to change the way the city spends our money. We can't keep buying candy with money some people need to keep their homes. Maybe it's time for Perry Wohnoutka to join Larsen and lead the council away from the spend, spend, spend, direction they are heading.
We need to keep Larsen on the city council working for us, the taxpayers of Spicer. Larsen and Wohnoutka have my vote and should have yours.
Richard Lindahl
Spicer
