Mayne, Nelson will provide WECRD leadership

Dear editor:

In next week's election for the Western Elmore County Recreation District, I strongly recommend voting for Art Nelson and Judy Mayne.

Both Judy and Art will provide the open, transparent, responsive, and accountable leadership needed on that board. They both have the intelligence and leadership skills needed to properly govern the district in fulfilling the mission for which it was formed: Recreation.

For ten years now, various iterations of this body have struggled with trying to decide what size a center should be and what components it should contain. Meanwhile, as meetings were held and plans were drawn and redrawn, scarce property tax dollars levied from the voters for the purpose of recreation were instead spent on overhead, salaries and administration, while the excess collected was placed in savings.

When asked by voters and taxpayers to expend some of these precious funds on actual recreation in addition to the study of theoretical future recreation facilities, they refused. Only recently have they allocated a tiny fraction of the nearly $2 million of your tax money they now control to recreation.

The recent Y study and recommendation shows that a vote for the incumbents is a vote for four more years of study without recreation, hopefully culminating in a recreation center that can only be built after a multi-million-dollar donation campaign, a bond election and the district agreeing to transfer your tax dollars to an unelected and unaccountable private organization for the next 13 years, raising your taxes every year.

A vote for the incumbents, then, is a vote not for a "rec center" -- but instead a vote for continued inaction coupled with higher taxes.

After about three years of being dissatisfied with the status quo, regularly attending meetings, scrutinizing documents and actively participating in the study and recommendation process, Judy and Art stepped forward and did something too few people are willing to do: they chose to run against the incumbents, and have already made a difference by giving voters a real choice at the ballot box.

In a nearly perfect example of the way our democratic process ought to work, they set out to ensure those people who expect their hard-earned tax dollars to be spent on recreation will have a voice at the ballot box, and a voice on that board of directors when elected.

This election couldn't be more important to those who care about open, transparent, responsive and accountable government. The best way to address the constant stream of complaints taxpayers have had about this district's lack of action and direction is to vote for Art Nelson and Judy Mayne.

The importance of this election cannot be overemphasized: this is an autonomous political subdivision of the State of Idaho, with the power to levy taxes upon your property. The ONLY control and oversight of this taxing district comes from voters, at election time.

This election is the only way the officials of the district can be held truly accountable for their decisions, by facing voters with the power to cast their votes in an election with real choices on the ballot.

Art Nelson and Judy Mayne have stepped forward and done their part in making the process work as it was intended. Now, it is up to the voters to do their part: decide whether they want to wait at least four more years and pay higher taxes for something that may never be, or if they want their hard-earned tax dollars used as they were intended, for recreation.

A vote for the incumbents is a vote for at least four more years of waiting; a vote for Art Nelson and Judy Mayne is a vote for recreation now!

Geoff Schroeder