To the editor:
In a recent issue of the Press, Destiny Dickinson's Rhonda Dukart said we should vote yes on the half-percent sales tax ordinance because we can trust our city government to spend our money wisely. Really?
They want to spend $5 million to $6 million to help build the college's football field when the state won't because they consider it a nonpriority. How wise is that?
They want to spend $7 million dollars to build an outdoor water park in an area with a short summer! How wise is that? If there is a water park in southwestern North Dakota, it should be in Medora.
They want to spend millions on the building of a new county fairground. That way Dickinson residents can get double taxed in a roundabout way. They get to not only pay for the fairgrounds through county taxes, but through city sales taxes too. How wise is that?
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I urge Dickinson residents to vote no on June 10 if they want to keep their voice in city government. Give up your voice now and you've given up your rights for a long time, if not forever.
Then there's the matter of funding the hospital. Hospital administrators made it clear in last Friday's newspaper they are not closing St. Joseph's but are working on a new operating plan. They are the experts.
Let them work things out fiscally. If they need city support, let them ask and chances are good we could raise money for our hospital quicker than we could for a football field or a water park!
Isn't it odd the city has put those causes first on the agenda. How wise it that?
I'm among those who live outside Dickinson's city limits who, nonetheless, feel the crunch out here. We have to shop Dickinson, yet have nothing to say about city sales taxes. Just vote no.
LaVonne Goetsch
Belfield
