I read the recent account of the commissioners meeting regarding the 3% sales tax on recreational marijuana with total amazement as to how inept the current county commissioners truly are. How can it be possible that the commissioners can’t find a place to spend the $450,000+/- dollars of additional tax money that would be generated by this very needed tax? Have they not heard anything from the Sheriff’s Office in regard to the staffing levels? This is the most logical place for the tax money to be spent since law enforcement are the ones dealing with the fallout from the recreational use of the drug. These funds could also include some amount going to counselors as well as funding for more deputies.
These three commissioners are supposed to be running the county and making decisions as to the fiscal direction of county government, and yet they speak as if they have been operating in a closet and know nothing of how their poor fiscal decisions have put county law enforcement back years.
So, to answer the chair’s question about what the public thinks: enact the tax and fully fund law enforcement!
Charles Lapp
Kalispell