Say Anything Blog

A clarification:

GRAND FORKS — As chairman of the Grand Forks County Home Rule Charter Commission, I wish to clarify the role of our commission in relation to the county sales tax issue.

Some think that the home rule charter and the sales tax are inseparable items, but that is not true. The sales tax is a separate issue from the home rule charter.

While the members of the commission know that the charter could pave the way to a vote on a sales tax, that objective has not been a part of our deliberations as a commission. We have concentrated on drafting a charter that will provide the county with greater flexibility for managing county affairs in a variety of ways.

I assume that some members of the commission favor the adoption of a sales tax. I do not support the sales tax proposal, but I am very much in favor of county home rule.

Home rule is bigger than a single issue.

Lloyd Omdahl

I’m somewhat surprised and gladdened that Omdahl has come out against the sales tax.  I don’t understand what’s going behind this push for the home rule charter without getting the sales tax at the same time.  Could it be that they’ve figured out the citizens of the county as mad as hell and aren’t going to go along with their nefarious sales tax scheme?

The county commission is about as dysfunctional as can be imagined.  They need to make the case to the voters that having more power than they already have will actually improve things.  I wouldn’t necessarily rule that out, after their limited powers haven’t’ kept them from royally screwing up the county’s finances.

Here’s the last article I did on the subject.  I’ve got links on that post to document the history of the county’s mismanagement.