Our “Investments” in Crystal

After reading Mayor Bowman’s letter to editor in the Sun Post about Northwest Family Physicians, I feel the need to respond;

From the Sun Post;

I attended the Crystal Medical Center open house located on Bass Lake Road and Bottineau Boulevard. It is a beautiful facility that demonstrates the change that occurs when local government and private sector work together towards a mutual vision of community improvement.

The fact that business has to work with government shows just how big and powerful government has become.

Thank you to the tenants and partners, who in some way committed resources toward the develop of this facility, including Mark Davis and Michael Sharpe of The Davis Group (developer of the Crystal Medical Center), BDH & Young Design (general contractor), Northwest Family Physicians (tenant) and Mark Pottenger, clinic administrator, NovaCare Rehabilitation (tenant), Imaging Center of Crystal (tenant), Crystal Economic Development Authority, Crystal city staff and City Council.

Thank you to the citizens of Crystal, whose tax dollars provided seed money for this project. Crystal Citizens have a five-year investment in this project.

Seed money? You mean the money we “loaned” them right? That’s funny, I don’t remember giving the city of Crystal permission to “invest” my money in a private business. I don’t remember a public hearing on the issue.

It’s also weird listening to a council that constantly complains about not having enough money for police and fire, yet at the same time they have the money to give to a private business. Isn’t in also interesting that Mayor Bowman leaves out the amount…..I believe to be in the $400,000 range.

Tax dollars and the time and money investment from those listed above accomplished the following: preservation of a 30-year-old business (Northwest Family Physicians), preservations of high-level profession jobs that would have been lost had Northwest Family Physicians moved into a different community, opportunity to bring increased medical jobs to Crystal as the clinic expands and the continued convenience to local citizens because the clinic remains open and provides additional services.

In five years, the citizens of Crystal will see money returned to them through paid property taxes. At that point, the increased tax base for improved property will continue to pay off and citizens continue to benefit from the continuation of services.

In other words, when (or should I say if) this “investment” come to fruition, the city intends to spend the money rather than give the money back to the people who “invested” in the project. This is nothing more than a tactic to increase spending.

And what if this business fails? Do we bail them out?

There is another reason for the project. It fulfills Area #3 of their comprehensive plan. Here are the details to area #3;

Area #3 – Lakeland Avenue from 56th to 58th. This area is identified as a potential redevelopment area in the current Comprehensive Plan. Existing uses are mostly commercial including the former Crystal-Pierz Marine. There will be impacts from the Bottineau Boulevard reconstruction project due to elimination of the existing frontage road and construction of a new “backage” road which will form the approximate border between non-residential uses along Bottineau Boulevard and the residential uses to the east. The right-in and right-out access to Bottineau Boulevard at 58th Avenue / Airport Road will remain but it will be reconfigured to improve safety and traffic flow. This area would not be quite as isolated as Area #1, and therefore it might also be able to accommodate some destination retail or office uses.

Thank you all for bringing closure to this very successful project.

ReNae Bowman

Crystal

ReNae Bowman is the mayor for the city of Crystal.

People need to realize how critical this issue is. We all know how our “investments” in Solyndra, General Motors, and the big banks have turned out. But this crony capitalism is happening here at the city level too.

If we “invest” in one business, how many do we invest in? What is our criteria for giving away taxpayer dollars for a private business? Why do we give money to one and not another? Where does it stop? What are the limits on government?

Hey Mayor Bowman, I’d like to start a business in Crystal! Can I have some seed money????

Weighing in on West Metro Fire

Brian Hubbard’s last letter-to-the-editor has convinced me I need to weigh in on this issue.

To start with; I don’t know Mr. Hubbard. I don’t know what his deal is with Mayor Bowman. And I don’t know why the mayor hates West Metro Fire so much. I’m coming at this as a citizen trying to get to the truth.

From the Sun Post;

Crystal Mayor ReNae Bowman would like you to believe the West Metro Fire budget has grown at astronomical rates and that the city is spending an increasing amount to fund fire protection, which is a core function of a city.

OK, let me jump in right here. I have no problem with Mayor Bowman questioning the spending. That’s her job. My problem is that she seems to single out West Metro Fire and has no problem spending anywhere else. She never objects to buying property, special assessments, the salaries of city administration, nor does she seem to put the police department under the same scrutiny.

I would also agree with Mr. Hubbard that fire protection is a core function of city government, though again, how much we spend and how much we “need” has to debatable.  Mr. Hubbard continues;

Here are the facts:

– Crystal’s contribution to West Metro decreased from $1,061,312 in 2008 to $964,578 in 2012 – a decrease of $96,734 (9.1 percent) in five years.

– During this same period, Crystal’s overall budget has increased by $772,471 (6.7 percent).

– Crystal’s contribution to West Metro decreased by $27,284 in 2012.

If this is true, then it seems the mayor has no case. It seems, despite the claims of the mayor and the council, that the budget has grown while the contribution to West Metro Fire has decreased. Still, I think the mayor has the right to question the spending. 

She has suggested inappropriate financial activities occurring in the district. I believe these allegations are false and wrong. This has been continually proven to be the case. I question her motives in continuing to hint at something that is obviously false. She continually suggests the West Metro Board, of which she was a part for more than two years, and the New Hope City Council failed to listen to the Crystal Council’s concerns about budget.

Now, to be blunt, I’m not sure what Mayor Bowman’s motives are. For whatever reason, she simply doesn’t like this partnership.

Here are the facts:

– The financial reporting documents and annual budget processes and documents were completely redesigned, at expense to the district, to make them easier to read and understand at the request of the Crystal Council.

– In the last four years, a Budget Committee was formed to help solidify the process and deal with concerns. The mayor has been a part of this committee, attended every meeting of this committee and not once voted against any consensus budget.

– The budgets of the last four years were approved by the Budget Committee and the board (she was a part of both). With the exception of the 2012 budget, both city councils (which she was a part of) approved every budget. And, all three of these groups approved mid-year budget reductions as requested by Crystal twice. Until 2012, not once did the mayor vote against any budget.

First off, Mayor Bowman has no business being the “citizen representative” on the West Metro Fire Board. Clearly that’s a conflict of interest and violates at least the spirit of even having a “citizen representative.” The Board is supposed to made up of seven members

*Both city managers

*One member of each council

*One Citizen from each city

*An at-large member

So the councils and the government bureaucrats already outrank citizens 4 to 3. Why does Crystal feel the need to shut out an ordinary citizen from the process? The only thing I can think of is that they want total control over the process. In fact, New Hope has followed suit and named councilman John Elder as their “citizen representative.” This ensures that citizens have no voice at all in THEIR fire service. Both city councils should be ashamed of themselves.

In addition, if Mayor Bowman has supported all the previous budgets before 2012 then again what case does she have that “money was inappropriately spent.” If she approved these budgets, then she has to held accountable for it.

– Discussion of the district fund balance came up at least four times during her time on the board. Each of these discussions ended with consensus that the policy in place was appropriate.

– The enormous expense to each city to dismantle West Metro far outweighs the costs the mayor is trying to suggest is being wasted on our public safety.

The expense is indeed great. I know if cost over $100,000 to combine the city’s fire departments and that was in 1998 with 1998 dollars (remember what gas cost in 1998?). What would that cost be now? $150,000? $200,000? More? And what is the cost to Crystal to hire their own fire chief (and of course a deputy), buy their own equipment, etc? Since 2006 West Metro Fire has purchased $2 million in equipment. How does that get divided? The mayor at least has an obligation to explain this.

Making an ordinary, tax-paying citizen, with no political aspiration or personal agenda, who has simply been trying to help our community be a safe place, a scapegoat to help further a power-grab, is not leadership – it’s unfortunate. Cities must provide excellent public safety services with excellent values – Who else is going to do it? That has been the goal of the majority of the West Metro Board members and most of the city council members I’ve interacted with.

We taxpayers must continue to demand that elected officials be held to a standard of truth and respect, not rhetoric, disrespect and hidden agendas. Brian Hubbard, a resident of New Hope, is the former president of the West Metro Fire-Rescue District board of directors.

I don’t think we’ve seen the last of this feud but look at the bright side; at least the mayor isn’t picking on me!

Show Me the Cuts!

Over the past few years, all I seem to hear from local government is how much they are cutting. The city of Crystal, Hennepin County, District 281, and the state of Minnesota have gone on and on about how fiscally responsible they are.

Pardon me if I don’t believe them.

Take the city of Crystal for example. The council, the mayor, and the city manager constantly brag about all the “cuts” they’ve made over the past 6-8 years. They’ve claimed that $3-4 million has been “cut.” The number is different every time I hear it. When I pulled up the city budget on their website I saw that the city spent $10,885,459 in 2007. So if we have cut $3-4 million, then that number should be lower, right?

Well, not exactly. The projected budget for 2012 is $12,340,040. That’s nearly a $1,500,000 increase over five years or 13.4 percent. I’m not a math genius but that doesn’t look like a $3 million cut to me. So I went to ask this question to the council at their lie-in (excuse me) truth-in-taxation hearing on Dec. 6, 2011.

The meeting began with a presentation from Charlie Hansen, the city finance director with a merger salary over $105,000 a year. He went over the budget’s expenses and “revenues” or as I call it tax money. Then he said something that rang an alarm in my head. He tried to explain why government can’t cut like business. He said (and I’m paraphrasing) that even in a recession people still expect the same police protection and fire protection and blah, blah, blah.

Now, I’m not shocked to hear this from a government bureaucrat, but are people who want less taxes and spending really this ignorant? I think people who want less government understand it comes at a price. Government can’t offer the same service for less. And why is it that police and fire are always what we are threatened with when it comes to cuts? they make up about $5,500,000 of the $12,340,000 budget. That’s less than half of the budget. Where is the other $7,000,000 going?

Well, despite being a tad flustered about this analysis, I went ahead during the public hearing and asked about the “budget cuts” anyway. I asked how the city can spend more and claim to be cutting at the same time.

Mayor Bowman, who didn’t look too happy too see me there (though I can’t imagine why), passed the buck to Hansen who explained that the reference to “cutting $3-4 million was due to the state of Minnesota promising local government aid and not delivering it.”

Again, this is the answer I expected. Now, what Hansen said may be true, but think of how the city defines a cut. A “cut” is not spending less. A cut is not getting all the state money (ie the free money) that they think they are entitled to (and last time I checked, I pay the state as well).

Furthermore, it still didn’t answer the question about how a city can cut, spend more, and offer the same level of service. Once Hansen said this, I just gave up. I knew what direction this was going to go.

It just goes to show the amount of double talk that goes on in government and how if we want actual cuts in this city it won’t happen with this council.

Welcome to the Riktablog!

I want to take this opportunity to welcome you to my blog. It’s right here where you will get the straight story about my campaign for mayor of my home town, my TV show, my thoughts on politics and sports as well as my personal life. I hope you enjoy it!

Andrew Richter

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