Letter: Kinni’s road upkeep system is flawed

Supervisor Mary Murphy opposes the Kinnickinnic Town Board’s 2011 budget and I agree with her, but for different reasons. Most of the proposed 50% tax increase for that budget is supposed to go toward the roads, a worthy goal if the money only went straight to it.

But a major change in road policy came a few years ago with the change in our town chairs. We stopped using the county to fix our roads and went to the current bidding practice, a practice that can provide potential business opportunities for the town chair’s employer.

It is also a practice that includes the town engineer overseeing the bidding process and road work. In 2009, engineering firm SEH was paid over $58,000, about a quarter of the road budget.

This year it’s set to receive even more, having already been paid $42,000 by July. That money could have gone to fill a lot of potholes.

In addition to avoiding these administrative charges, there are other reasons to return to using St. Croix County to maintain our roads. We taxpayers already contribute to the county highway department’s overhead. That portion of our county tax dollar buys us little for the town roads under the current practice. And using the county could avoid the appearance of impropriety that undermines public confidence in our officials’ decisions.

This year the Legislature set a 3% limit on levy increases, so the proposed 50% increase the Town Board is requesting will need voter approval at a town meeting in November.

Tags: opinion, letters, kinnickinnic, government