Letter: Council members refute recent letter on Bus. 51
Editor’s note: This open letter is from two elected members of the Stevens Point Common Council. Councilwoman Meleesa Johnson represents the city’s 5th District and is currently Council President. Mr. Shorr is the alderman from District 2.
To the Editor-
Alderpersons Meleesa Johnson and David Shorr submitted this letter in their personal capacities.
After Kevin Flatoff’s recent letter about the upcoming referendum referred to both of us by name, we would like to set the record straight.
First off, this referendum is about putting future projects up for a public vote. It will not affect Business 51. The August 9 referendum applies to other future projects because of state laws on local-level ballot initiatives. A series of Wisconsin Supreme Court decisions have ruled that referendums can’t be used to repeal properly enacted legislative decisions. This enables communities to move on rather than seesawing back and forth over controversial issues.
Why do we say a ‘yes’ vote on the referendum will lead to higher property taxes? Because the resulting clumsy process will increase the cost of street construction projects. Passing this referendum would force us to hold more referendums every time there’s a project costing a million dollars or more.
Waiting for the public to vote will add months to each project’s timeline, and meanwhile, the price will go up. In fact, we got a stark reminder this week about high inflation for construction projects. Last Monday the finance committee allocated additional funds to repave the fire department and police department parking lots, which have been hit with 50 percent and 30 percent inflation, respectively.
We also worry about the effect on Stevens Point’s ability to make deals with businesses. For instance, the city owns business park properties with some of the infrastructures left undone until a business wants to develop it. The Council relies on senior city staff to negotiate with businesses that may be interested in locating in Stevens Point. Will our community continue being seen as business-friendly if we adopt this highly unusual slower approval process?
The Council made its decision on Business 51 and Church Street with property tax implications in mind. We spent many hours last year listening to community members argue passionately for widening the road to keep four lanes (a wider corridor is needed to meet federal lane-width requirements).
While we respect the passion of the advocates we heard, we couldn’t justify abandoning the three-lane design we approved in order to: spend extra taxpayer dollars on four lanes; purchase the private property entailed, or reduce our chances of receiving federal dollars. We aren’t saying four lanes are disqualified from getting grants, we’re saying they have less of a chance of being funded. We didn’t want to take that chance. And sure enough, our Business 51 plan has already received its first $3.5 million grant.
It is true that Business 51 will require tax increases. This was made quite clear in the comptroller-treasurer’s presentation.
But it’s our responsibility as public officials to make those increases no more than they have to be. That’s why we approved the Business 51 plan and why we urge the community to vote ‘No’ so that we don’t set up a new decision process bound to raise construction project costs.
David Shorr, District 2
Meleesa Johnson, District 5