Letter to the Editor (SUN)
To the Editor:
On June 13, the Budget Committee had its first meeting pertaining to the budget for 2023. It was organizational only and was attended by Heather Olson, Ryan Odden, Jon Kangas and myself.
I want to say this about the process before we start. Wadena County taxes are among the highest in the state and double the state medium.
There are dozens of budgets and appropriation requests that are about to be submitted.
It is not only up to four people to find things that could be reduced or eliminated in this mass of paper. Every ELECTED OFFICIAL AND DEPARTMENT HEAD submitting a budget needs to be in the lead on this effort.
Gathering ideas on how to improve the situation, last October, I saw little interest in this issue outside of things submitted by residents.
Two questions I will ask of every budget and the person submitting them is:
Are there things that can be reduced or eliminated?
Should county residents be resigned to the fact that we have one of the lowest household incomes and one of the highest county tax rates?
The state dictates many things related to county government which is what makes true improvement so difficult.
Maybe we would all be better off in 10 or 20 years to be part of a larger tax base and the quality of services that come with it.
Murlyn Kreklau
District 4 Commissioner
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