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CITY, ND (NewsDakota.com) – The jail, the budget, tax valuation rates, county employee wages and the North Dakota Winter Show were just a few items discussed during the Barnes County Commission candidate forum on October 11th in Valley City.
Incumbent commission candidate Cindy Schwehr said a discussion what direction the county should take handling aging infrastructure headaches in the courthouse and the jail need to be addressed seriously in the future. She said should be focus on building a new jail or get out of the jail business will one day need to talked about extensively.
Challenger and commission candidate Leroy Triebold questions the recent county commission decision to raise taxes to balance the budget and fund existing services. Triebold said do we really need to build up a $2 million surplus at the taxpayer expense? He also questioned the current tax valuation rate system.
Meanwhile, incumbent commission candidate John Froehlich met the issue head on about where he resides during the week. He told the audience that he has a unique marriage, his wife lives in Moorhead, Minnesota and he lives on the family farm in Barnes County during the week. Froehlich supports the idea of one day building a joint law enforcement center and new jail in Barnes County. He said one reason the county commission struggled with the budget this year has to do with the added expense of the county taking over 9-1-1 dispatch center a few years ago from the city. Froehlich said that is a $700,000 added cost to the county annually.
His challenger, commission candidate Robert Drake said the county should take a closer look at how county employee wages are approved of annually. Drake said some employees should be paid more and other less following annual reviews. He also suggested that some positions could be consolidated to help the county save money. Drake also believes that the North Dakota Winter Show should operate on its own. He said he didn’t agree with the county commission decision to approve of $195,000 this year for North Dakota Winter Show.
The full Barnes County Candidate forum is available below: