About Me
- George
- I have served the City of Isanti as Mayor since 2007. We have accomplished great things together and I look forward to building on our success. United, we move forward to a better future. You may contact me at 763-442-8749 or e-mail me at george@georgewimmer.com.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Community Center Referendum
There is a great deal of passion regarding the Community Center and I think the best way to settle it might be by letting the Voters of Isanti decide if they want to spend the funds necessary to refurbish this building and pay the taxes required to do so.... This is what should have happened for the new Isanti City Hall that was built in 2005... I am looking to see if we can place such a thing on the 2012 general election ballot... What do you think?
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9 comments:
Oh my how things have changed. Now you want to put a big issue on the ballot for the people to decide. Where was this same concern when you extended your term of service without the peoples vote? You sure know how to twist the system in your favor...........
I did not change my term.... the term for the position of Mayor was changed from 2 years to 4 years and only went into affect after the last election.....
The Community Center improvements will be at least $100,000 and most like twice that number..... This is a significant amount to spend on a facility that does not generate positive revenue to the City....
Hey George why doesn't the city of Isanti pay the Lions Club back for the property that the city stole from the them where the current Isanti City Hall now calls home? And back at Market Value for that time???
That land was given to the City Of Isanti for the INTENDED use of expanding the Community Center and the additional parking for it and the city told them "Thank You Very Much!" and instead turned around and built the Isanti City Hall.
And in regards to the $100,000 improvements for the Community Center do you have actual costs of this or is this another one of your "Typical Scare Tactic Estimates"?
If I recall correctly, the last exterior improvements on that building were "DONATED" in the minimum of 90% by "Local Businesses And Volunteers"
Further more if City Hall had not been built on the current property we could have put an expansion on the Community Center to house Weddings, Chamber Dinners, Group Dinners, Luncheons, etc. this venue has a full kitchen that can provide to feed large groups like the above mentioned and then you would have a facility that does generate a "Positive Revenue". At this time the local residents and residents of the surrounding communities do not have access to a facility like this locally that could have provided them these ammenities and at a lower cost than having to go to a much more costly Banquet Hall.
~The "Original" Pot Shot Critic
You seem to want it both ways.... praising the Lions for giving the land then you want it paid for.... The Lions are actually paid to run the facility by the City
The donation for the last repair of the facility was free labor and the city paid for all the materials..
Again a timeline would be good... The decision to build the new City Hall was made before I was ever on the Council...
I do not pull numbers out of thin air... The capital improvement plan actually has $115,000 in it for the Community Center but that does not address all the potential future cost....
No matter how big you make the facility it will not make money.... no city owned community center makes money... if you have an example I would be very happy to see it...
The last point you make again seems to make my overall point... you want to provide a low cost facility for the region... 2 problems... 1st you will still have a situation in which the Isanti Taxpayer is subsidizing not only residents of the City but of many others in the region you want to serve.... the other main issue I see is you want a government entity to compete against private business. Why should tax payer dollars be used to hurt private business?
The community center needs go. It was great while it lasted. But $100,000 is not nearly worth it. A sad reality of our economy, but this is the situation we find ourselves in.
Our tax money can and will be spent in much better ways paying for services that are needed vs a building that isnt.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I will be interested to see what all of the voters say.
I don't understand why the community center needs an expensive renovation. The building certainly isn't perfect, but it serves its purpose. Yes, it will cost the city some money to keep it going. But even if it's $20K per year it is worth it to the taxpayers ($4 per person who lives in Isanti). I don't get why this has to go to a vote, yet we can build a $1 Million plus water treatment plant with a simple city council vote. Or for that matter build the city hall without a vote. I would rather see the city council spend its time bringing jobs to town instead of playing games with the community center.
The water treatment center was a necessity due to the cancer causing radium... the water treatment center was funded out of the water enterprise fund.... I wish the new City Hall had been voted on by the public but this was already being done before I was elected to the Council.... I want it to go to a vote to see how valuable this center is to the public.... many things the City does is $5 to $10 per person but when you add all these $5 to $10 things together it starts to be a considerable sum especial since it really is the cost per household that matters...
We have eliminated all admin support staff and any further cuts will be police, public works or entire departments....
I can not stress this enough we are losing $500,000 in revenue for 2012...
Lose the people who keep our streets safe and clean (Police, Public Works) ...OR... Lose the community center. hmmmm...
GOODBYE COMMUNITY CENTER!!
Seems like a no brainer to me.
George Have we looked into alternitive energy options something that would maybe offset some taxes where as that money could be re allocted in some way, I know the city of Anoka put up a wind turbine net to the High school, is that an option and I am sure we could get some kind of Gov. kick back on it as well as lowering our city electric bills and community electric bills, just a though! dont know if its a viable option.
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