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Letter: Public should have been consulted first

It is past time for the council and the mayor to realize that the money they are using so freely is not theirs, writes Lynne Petersen.

This is about the new fire truck.

First of all, I am not sure that we needed such an expensive, fancy one. Secondly, usually when someone buys something they figure out how to pay for it BEFORE buying it! As this purchase involves tax dollars, it would have been nice if the public was consulted. Before being slapped with an additional tax (and that is what this levy is), the public should have been consulted.

So the people living within the city limits will pay two-thirds or more for the fire truck but the people living outside the limits will have access to its use. That sounds fair. The people living in a mansion pay as much as the ones living in an 800 square foot home on a tiny lot. This is very fair indeed!

I believe it is past time for the council and the mayor to realize that the money they are using so freely is not theirs—it belongs to the taxpayers and that the taxpayers should be consulted over a million-dollar purchase. What council should realize is that the last council got ousted over this same kind of thing.

I have a long memory for some things and come the next election, I WILL remember this.

– Lynne M. Petersen, Grand Forks