Ms. Larson's Nonsense

I have read the letter to the editor and Ms. Larson's nonsense response. I was disappointed that the County News did not seem to follow their own policy. I was not mentioned in the original letter to the editor but Ms. Larson brought me up in a derisive tone and I was not afforded the same opportunity she was given to respond. If I respond now Ms Larson will be given another chance at free space to have the last word.

Thankfully her response was filled with a mindless mush of inaccuracy. The Campaigning Couple of Johnson and Larson are but echoes of a bygone era. As echoes fade with time so does the influence of these 2.

I found some of her statements quite revealing. Her first "fact" about conflict of interest was amusing because of her campaign companion. I had challenged Mr. Johnson in years past about his conflict of interest of voting for Mr. Iverson's development projects when he had been working for Mr. Iverson. Ms. Larson did not support my challenge at that time. I hope she will in the future.

Ms. Larson's next statement about how the property taxes are eventually paid is at best incomplete and worst naive. The taxes do eventually get paid but not by the original developer. They are paid by whomever picks up the mess that has been left. The City also has to deal with what could be years of non-paid taxes leading to fewer services or if Ms. Larson had her way higher taxes on the rest of us who actually pay taxes, unlike her developer friend.

I was surprised that Ms. Larson brought up developer fees since she was one of the main reason residential development fees had been so low for so long. These fees are mandated by the state. Ms. Larson's statement makes it appear as if the developer is like Santa Claus handing out gifts from the goodness of his heart on Christmas morning.

The "fact" that developer fees were so low for so long only enriched the developers at the cost of the City. It took an independent audit - which cost us as well - of our fees to finally prove the point I had been making for years that residential development fees were far to low. Some of the lowest in the entire region.

So why should a resident of Isanti care - because we end up paying for it. A classic example is our water treatment plant. The "fact" that developer fees were so low for so long has led to inadequate fund balances for infrastructure improvements needed due to the rapid residential growth. So instead of the developer paying for the needed infrastructure, you and I have to pay high water rates to fund the water treatment plant.

This is only one example of how wrong Ms. Larson is. Another quick example is the hundreds, if not thousands, of hours spent by City staff on our tax payers dime to deal with all the failings of the rapid residential growth we experienced in Isanti.

I was also surprised that Ms. Larson seems to look at the Mayor's position as nothing more than a traffic cop at council meetings. Perhaps this is all she intends to do - but why does she want the position so bad if she thinks so little of it? She is right that a Mayor needs a good Council to get an agenda approved and acted on. Thankfully CMs Duff and Kolb were there to give us the 3-2 margin of victory for our first ever spending and tax cuts in recent Isanti history. Larson and Johnson tried hard to block it but to no avail. When I proposed Long Term Financial Planning, Development fees that cover the cost of development, Development Impact List and spending/tax cuts before becoming Mayor they were rejected by the previous Mayor, Johnson and Larson. Who we elect matters, especially in the Mayor's position.

Council Member Larson’s own 2006 Council re-election campaign material stated and I quote “We need to be realistic and understand that in order for our city to continue to be increasingly viable and economically sound that taxes will need to increase”. She has not been so transparent in this campaign but her voting record speaks volumes.

Just one more quick note, we should not forget the hundreds that were hurt tremendously last year by a slew of liens placed on individual family homes because Mr. Iverson did not pay his contractors for much of the work he was obligated to do per his agreements with the City. The City has been dragged into this as well since the contractor is now demanding the City pay Mr. Iverson's unpaid bills. More staff and City Attorney's time wasted....guess who is paying for that.

The consequences of Ms. Larson's votes and policies have caused devastation far and wide. Lets not fall for it again.