Constituent Question

Original question posted under "Benton County Commisssioner Candidate Forum"

Anonymous said...
What is going to happen to us as citizens of benton county if the board decides to disobey the state mandate for hiring new staff at the correctional facility?

I assume your question is in response to a comment made by a candidate in regard to to this subject at our recent forum. I did not make the comment and would try other ways to handle unfunded mandates such as using the Association of Minn. Counties to exert pressure on the legislature and of course keeping in constant touch with our area legislatures and seek their help in dealing with an issue like this. In regard to your specific question I would refer you to another elected official the County Attorney and he could probably tell you what any penalties would be and how they may affect the citizens. The current county board did negotiate with the state and they did agree to do a phase in of these positions to lessen the immediate impact on the budget and I support their action. I would never take any action of disobedience that would negatively impact our citizens.

Spencer Buerkle - Candidate for Benton County Commissioner in District #4
http://SpencerBuerkle.Blogspot.com

Great Story from St. Cloud Times

Oct 16- I received the endorsement of the St. Cloud Times Editorial staff. Please use the link below to read the full article.

Article on the St Cloud Times' Website.

Benton County Commissioner Candidate Forum

Candidate Forum

When: Tues. Oct. 14 at 7:00 P.M.
Where: Benton County Court House in the Commissioners Board Room
Sponsored by: The League of Women Voters and the St. Cloud Times


Come and meet myself and the other candidates from Districts 1, 4 and 5 and please ask any questions you may have.

Question from Constituent in Benton County

Original question posted under "What steps would I recommend if we had to reduce the budget by tomorrow?"

Anonymous said...
What can be done to help alleviate some of our proprety taxes?I talk with some of my friends in Sartell and St Cloud, and they pay much less in property taxes than we do in Sauk Rapids. Why is that? Is there anything that can be done?

This is another great question and one that I hear on almost a daily basis in my profession as a Realtor and of course hear it regularly while campaigning. Perhaps a little historical perspective may help. When I was a county commissioner from 1987-92 we set our budgets so that we would maintain parity with our neighbors in Stearns Co. and that is a matter of public record. I believe serval events occured which affected your taxes in Sauk Rapids; our city has a very high percentage of the commercial tax base tied up in tax increment districts where any increase in tax revenue caused by an increase from a commercial developement goes to HRA and not the county, school, or city, these will sometime run out and we will hopefully see those taxes go to the local units of government instead of HRA. There is nothing wrong with trying to attract new businesses to the county and we must continue to try to do this but we do have understand that we do have a larger than normal portion of our tax base tied up. On the county level we must stress more intergovernmental cooperation and better consolidation of services; an example of this is the new county jail I believe we should have gone in with Stearns Co. and built a joint facility, this would have been much more taxpayer friendly. With our metropolitan area being part of 3 counties 4 cities and a number of townships we must have better cooperation and consolidation between local units to preserve current service levels at affordable tax rates. I could give you many more examples but I hope this gives you an idea of my analysis of the situation. Finally we must use those techniques stated in my blog and also make sure we stay away from new expenses especially those that require an ongoing annual appropriation. My hope is over time these type of steps will close the gap between Benton and Stearns counties taxes.

Question from Constituent

Question posted under "Qualifications Personal and Background" Originally posted on 09/25/08

Anonymous said...
How do you differ from Ed Maier and what makes you more qualified than him for the position of county commissioner?

Thank you for your question. I do have 6 years experience as a Benton County Commissioner so I do have a thorough understanding of county government and during my previous time on the board I did hold many leadership positions including Board Chairman, President of the Cental Minn. Mental Health Board of Directors on 3 differant occasions, chair of the Tri County Solid Waste Commission, Chair of Stearns Benton Employment & Training Council and several more. My private sector experience in real estate has given me hands on experience in the many intricacies of the Minn. real estate tax classification system, it is a very complicated system and I do understand it and fully understand the effect real estate taxes have on our county. I also found that my formal education where my degree in Bus. Adm. was with an emphasis on real estate and finace helped me understand the many finacial statements and reports that a commissioner deals with on a daily basis. I don't just talk about fiscal responsibility I have a public record of fiscal prudence, and shared with you some of budget techniques in this blog.

Qualifications Personal and Background for Benton County Commissioner

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Served six years as Benton County Commissioner
• Current Sauk Rapids Housing Advisory Board Member
• Stearns/Benton Workforce Council-6 years as Private Sector Representative
• Central Mn. Mental Health Center -17 years on Board of Directors

PERSONAL BACKGROUND;

• Wife Judy
• BA Business Administration from St. Cloud State University
• Trinity Lutheran Church
• Sauk Rapids Volunteer Firefighter (retired, 32 years of service)
• Sauk Rapids Fire Dept. Engine Company 2 Member
• Vietnam Veteran
• Sauk Rapids VFW and American Legion Member
• Local real estate professional since 1969
• Central Mn. Retriever Club
• Pheasants Forever
• Ducks Unlimited
• National Rifle Association(NRA)

What steps would I recommend if we had to reduce the budget by tommorrow?

The immediate steps that could be taken would be such things as putting off some road projects, delaying or eliminating some capital requests, these are usually high dollar items and in the short term may have to be done. Delaying hiring when vacancies occur can also be done. For the long term we may have to adopt some sort of zero based budget process that would allow the county board to reexamine all our existing activities for mandated and non-mandated services; it allows us to look at the very core of every service we provide and would help us prioritize these activities which will have to be curtailed due to budget constraints.

I would also base any possible budget reductions on such criteria as 1. Mandated vs. non-mandated services, with the probability that non-mandated services will receive a lower priority. 2. The level service is above mandated requirements would also be a high priority for possible reductions. 3. Those services that are available elsewhere in the community and are perhaps duplication would be an area of probable reductions. 4. And finally we may have to go without some services that we are used to having that do not greatly impact our lives; in other words it might be something that's nice to have but if we can't afford it we can probably lead a normal life without it.

Spencer Buerkle Benton Co. Commissioner Candidate

spencerbuerkle@hotmail.com. or phone 320-249-7206