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Show THE ZEPHYRNOVEMBER 1990 PAGE 6 the zephyr debates Dave Bierschied v. David Knutson moderated by Jim stiles Knutson: First question. Do you consider yourself a true Democrat? Bierschied: Sure. I dont think theres such a big difference as middle of the road Democrats and Republicans. I differ from Republicans In the way I think social and economic things work. I believe that If you take care of the people when theyre young, keep them healthy, that you will be more able to keep them from getting Into trouble and having hard times later on In life. As opposed to possibly being more restrictive when they become a problem later on In life through the welfare and Judicial systems. I also believe In the people, and you help the people out as opposed to helping the more wealthy out, hoping that It trickles down to the middle class. Zephyr: Do you want to respond? Knutson: No. Bierschied. Ok, a question that would fit right there. You seem to repeatedly spend money on roads rather than fund other county and social needs. Why are roads more Important than other things? Knutson: Well, roads arent the only things I fund, but there Is definitely an emphasis been placed on roads. Thats a fair enough question. I consider roads to be the veins that carry the lifeblood of the county. Roads Is what brings In wealth. Our mountain bikers ride mostly on roads, of some type or another. Roads Is especially where our wealth comes from In the tax base. The better the road system, the more efficient we are In producing revenues so we can buy the services we need. Ive always envied San Juan Countys road system. The first thing Cal Black did when he got In there as a commissioner 20 years ago was start working on the road system. Today theyre In not bad shape, and I think a lot of that Is because of the Infrastructure. Everything depends on the roads -I So thats why think Its so Important schools, hospital, the fire department I Bierschied: would respond by saying I think Dave Is correct when he says the roads are vital. I question why we need more new roads when our old roads arent kept up as good as they should be. Secondly, I think the public In general, especially retirees, feel a little bad about services now that arent being taken care of In order to take care of new speculative roads, so It scares me a little that were gambling with monies that are needed for other services. Knutson: What do you see as the role of the county? Bierschied: As a county commissioner? Knutson: No. What Is the county supposed to do? You know what the role of a because Is, city youre a city councilman. Whats the role of the county? Bierschied: If you want a definite black and white answer, I dont believe any of us know that Right now the legislature Is looking at some Joint countyclty type governments. But right now, Id say the basic role of county, city, or any government Is to represent all people within Its Jurisdiction. A county Is responsible for the needs of all the people of Grand County, as opposed to the city which Is responsible only to those within Its Incorporated bounds. The county Is not legislatively responsible for those within Incorporated city limits, which kind of puts you In a bind as a county commissioner, because then you have to have a different kind of mindset The county Is the umbrella that all those people In the Incorporated cities count on for certain services roads, sheriffs department, so Its basically that umbrella that brings those services to those people not within the city limits. Knutson: The role of the county Is actually to be an arm of the state. Counties were created by the state to serve the people of the state. Were creatures of the state, but Mr. Bierschied Is right In the sense that thats to provide services to those people, as has been dictated and required by the state. Bierschied: Down to the nitty gritty, the Issue at hand. If II probably have passed this gets out But about the courthouse remodeling. Ive been doing some time by the Inquiring. Theres several questions but they're simple. How many courtrooms will there be when this remodeling Is done? Knutson: There'll be one large one, and at least another small one, maybe two. Bierschied: Ifs my understanding that If s three. Why so many? Knutson: That's the requirements from the state. They have a book of requirements for their district courts to meet their code. So that Is required. The county can either build that and lease It to them. If we build anything less, they will not lease, and theyd go and build their own. Bierschied: So what youre saying Is, If they dont build, theyll quit coming to the courthouse? Knutson: Theyll eventually build their own. Bierschied: This leads Into the main question. You say $100,000 or so will be Is that a profit or gross? brought In on revenues off these three. Right now there's $27,000. Knutson: Thats gross. Bierschied: How many commission offices are designed for this? Knutson: There was originally designed three big ones, and I said that doesnt need to be. Lets knock It down to three small ones. Enough for a desk and a chair, for the reason of privacy. People like to come In to talk to a commissioner In private, occasionally. But theyre Just small cubicles. Bierschied: If you object to all these questions, Im sorry, but they're short and..... Knutson: Ldont Bierschied: What will you do If the Issue Is defeated? we'll Just continue running Knutson: If the Issues defeated and Im the county as Is, until something happens In the future to tell us which direction were forced Into going. I dont know whether that would be a lawsuit or whether the state would shut it down. Bierschied: In my rebuttal, I'd say that It would be such a good deal to house all of the courtrooms If Indeed the profits are there. And the prisoners; I have a problem with those. I want to see nets, not grosses. I think If you're talking gross, youre going to lose revenues out of the general fund. I question very much that we need to have a bond Issue on this, and the reason being, I went through the budget and It looks like theres $130,000 In the road money for the county out of the general fund which we Just transferred $90,000 to other departments. That means there musf ve been a need there that didnt happen this towards other year. If that excess happens year after year, that money can be like courthouse. the First and foremost on the record, Im not against remodeling the things I courthouse. only think we need to be a little more careful with those monies, and we ought to look Into the general fund. We funded things In the city that were new, without raising taxes. Zephyr: David, I'm going to let you have a rebuttal to his rebuttal. Is that agreeable to you Dave? I think Its only fair. Knutson: Yes, the $110,000 Is a gross. The $50,000 from the jail Is a net The will be $200,000. That leaves $150,000 to over our expenses and maintenance. We gross do have a fund balance carry-ov- er every year. That's how weve eliminated raising taxes for the past four years. But each year that balance gets smaller and smaller. Sometime In the future, there will have to be a tax Increase simply because we havent had a tax Increase, and we've used up our fund balance. Knutson : Youve already said that the purpose of the county Is to provide services to Its citizens. That comes with a dollar tag. Where do you think those dollars come from and what are you going to do to generate more? Bierschied: If you take the county as a whole Including the special service districts, theres the mineral lease money, they can raise their own taxes. The county Itself gets their money from property taxes. PILT monies. They raise some revenues through leasing, like at the courthouse, dump fees, different services they provide. The major monies, the property tax $450,000, $306,000 from the federal, and Im not sure about the state. I couldnt understand that But youve got a $1.3 million budget and that brings In more than 50. The rest comes from Incidentals Including the Jail service which Is $41,000 now. So your money Is I generated that way. dont know that we can generate a heck of a lot more money. I think what we can do Is for Instance, If we had $130,000 In roads In the general fund, and we didnt need It we were transferring It to other accounts, we could take that debt and put It Into the mineral lease money debt That would free up $130,000 to go tothegenera1 fund What l m 8ettlnfl Is we need to look at and The city now has a planning department It costs more than $40,000 a year. We did not ra se taxes to do that We had to cut and change the way tilings are. th,n1 w can rae revenues, especially the property tax revenues . ,,Utson: vrithout raising taxes In town. The majority of our tax base lies out In the valley, and that fluctuates with oil and gas production. Our mineral lease production Is down 23; yet that sun produces the largest amount of our property taxes. I think by stimulating production H" . 8e area well raise the property tax. That can be done In a couple of ways. The Jjthem- - Th other way Is to block out state lands corridor I"e along the n 'ndUsWe8 uses th resources we have out there, namely, natural gas. If ! stimulated gas production, our revenues would go up dramatically. tion 1 ..'J, you -70 - - one of my biggest hassles In life !mportant guest,on to me frp annlng and zonln9 this year, of which $551 has been spent This amount In the budget for any department In the general fund. Do you feel that |
