While I am happy we received $10 million from the state for our new jail, what happened to the $22.5 million that we had in the state bonding bill that didn’t pass last year?
This time it took a DFL legislator from the Iron Range to sponsor Carlton County for the $10 million on the House side. This leaves a $12.5 million difference between what the county requested and what we got. Taxpayers from Carlton County spoke loud and clear passing the sales tax to help pay for the new jail last fall, with the understanding there would be somewhere near $22.5 million in state aid. All kinds of words have been spoken but the voters of Carlton County came up on the short end.
Rep. Jeff Dotseth obviously did not hear that message because he prioritized another project. Our jail was condemned and then we come up short again because our state representative did not prioritize what voters wanted.
As the old saying goes: Lead, move or get out of the way.
Michael Schultz,
Carlton