Editorial: Water district brought on by state politics

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, May 14, 2003

The Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) committee’s decison Tuesday to recommend the creation of a watershed board in Freeborn County all but assures that the long-debated &uot;new layer of government&uot; will be created. Many fret because this body will have the ability to tax and its members won’t be directly elected by the public.

Whether the funding comes from property taxes levied by the watershed district or, as some hope, from a half-percent sales tax in Albert Lea, the effect will be the same: Taxes will likely be collected to pay for the projects.

This is another example of how the no-new tax pledge of Gov. Tim Pawlenty and other Republicans is a sham. They are avoiding new taxes on the state level, but the burden is only going to shift to local governments, who could raise their own taxes in response. In Freeborn County’s case, the county is being forced to cut its budget in anticipation of state aid cuts, casting doubt upon its ability to fulfill the requirements set by BWSR for watershed improvements. That, more than anything, led to a BWSR panel’s lack of faith in the county’s ability to handle the projects itself.

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There’s no telling yet how the watershed board would raise funds for the often-expensive projects some lake advocates are talking about, including dredging. But the money will have to come from somewhere.

Over the last few years, lake activists have finally built up enough momentum that the projects were going to get done one way or another.

Partly because Pawlenty and some lawmakers want to look good on the taxes issue, the projects are now most likely to happen under a watershed board

&045; a body that most people would agree is less accountable to the public than the county board would have been if allowed to tackle the issue itself.