On WTIP news, Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk informed us that Superior National at Lutsen Golf Course (SNL) is part of the county, not able to be sold or given away, and it is the county’s responsibility to fund its expansion. The news should be the truth.
Planned in the ’90s, the hospital lost the 1 percent sales tax to Lutsen’s business owners who wanted to fund improvements at SNL, a major asset, free to them. The other projects were the bait.
As the hospital seeks help from the state, funding improvements they deem necessary, on WTIP Senator Tom Bakk questioned our leadership and decisionmaking. Meaning our hospital board, county board, city council, school board, and every citizen who voted yes to the 1 percent tax, losing the security the 1 percent tax gave the community for building and maintaining the clinic, hospital, and care center— needed by all 5,200 citizens and travelers and supporting those high-paying jobs—to fund projects like expanding SNL, building a YMCA, etc.
Still ironing out the particulars, it may cost property taxpayers 45 years of paying bond payments to fund the hospital project due to losing the 1 percent tax to Lutsen, as our elected officials claim SNL costs taxpayers nothing.
Lutsen has raised about $10 million in five years, with plans to raise and spend millions more, funding their projects that build tourism. This sells property, builds homes and condos, and creates a valuable free asset to Lutsen’s businesses who continue to expand, adding jobs, and setting our future spending agenda in building tourism.
Their plan of controlling tax dollars for tourism building works because no other district creates a plan to seek funding for. Grand Marais projects, the library expansion, YMCA, and biomass aren’t what most vacations are planned around, adding jobs paid by tax dollars.
We teach our students that building a sound future depends on making sound decisions; Senator Bakk warns us, ours are not. Even following this agenda, in the real world we see YMCA locker room floors drain, etc. Standing water deteriorates grout, causes mildew and mold—things we were escaping at the old pool, etc.
Perhaps greed and selfishness outweigh education and sound thinking.
Tod Sylvester
Grand Marais
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