Letters to the Editor

Letter to the Editor:

What do taxpayers mean in today’s government? A good example I have been following up onthe Valley City School District (VCSD) repayment plan for their building fund of $619,982.24 that was taken from us taxpayers (TR Article Jan 20-22)

What we the people want, is for the Barnes County Commission to reimburse the taxpayers with a check. Is there a chance we could stick together as taxpayers and agree on this subject?

VCSD was always on a 10 mill levy cap as governed by the North Dakota Century Code. If VCSD wants to exceed 10 mill it must go to the taxpayers by vote, for the increase in mill levy. But they have exceeded that cap since 2019-2023. (why ask why)

It appears VCSD has a project in mind that exceeded the 10 mill cap, so the county helped out, well I guess transparency is out of the question now. In my world it’s clearly a big mistake, in the political world it’s an honest mistake.

To sum it up, I was disappointed in President of the VCSD Board, Ryan Mathias. This agenda you had for us was not a place to have it, not where all the kids were, this was for adults. You were rude to Mr Paul Lacina and literally cut him off when wanting to ask questions of others, usually what they do in other meetings, and are given respect.

At least the BC Commissioners gave us a chance to speak and ask questions, you may want to take lessons from them. All of us taxpayers in Barnes County were affected by this $619,982.24 charge and the only thing the citizens are guilty of is we trusted our leaders as they pretty much have our monies in their hands.

What’s on my mind Daryl J. Larson,

Valley City, ND