What Would You Pay For a Better Community?

By now you may have read about the request to put the Brainerd question on the
spring ballot. And you might be wondering exactly what you would be voting on.
Specifically, you would be approving (or not) the village’s financial
commitment to the tune of $3.5 million dollars to get Brainerd operational. The
cost estimate for this is approximately $47.50 per $400,000 of property value,
prorated over ten years.

Now, we all grumble when our taxes go up, but here we have to consider the
alternative: if the Brainerd Building cannot get funding to be reclaimed, the
school district has already declared the building will be razed to make way for
a parking lot and, possibly, tennis courts. But keep in mind that if that
should happen, the cost will still be more than a million dollars to tear it
down, and then whatever the costs are to create the lots and courts—and you
know that won’t be cheap.

And that will be your tax dollar, too.

So what it comes down to is this: would you rather your money go toward a
community center that will support arts and education activities for all, or a
slab of concrete for limited parking?

Those are your choices. Think about it.