Dear Grant,

I recently read that the Town of Lake City recreation department is trying to acquire another fifty-five acres of BLM Land to expand the ice wall. Realizing that the ice wall has become very popular in recent years, I have to ponder as to how much income (tax revenue) the ice wall brings to Lake City as compared to taxes spent to keep it going. Does the Town of Lake City feel like they are in the red or the black in this endeavor to bring in a winter crowd? I pulled some archives of bills payable for the Town of Lake City. You might be interested to know, the period between October 2024 and May 2025 the Town paid out over $23,025 just for general maintenance, repairs, electricity etc….for the ice wall.
I would have to assume this is probably a standard and recurring (more or less) rate to run the ice wall each year. Now the Town is talking about a public restroom that will cost the taxpayers another $123,000 over a three-year period. I am not opposed to the ice wall, but can we look at the numbers before we leap? I only mention this because the town is also looking to build affordable housing. It seems the Town has received a grant for $300,000, which for some reason, (perhaps it is the lack of teaching civics/economics in school anymore), some people believe is free money, it just appears from nowhere and is passed down from our benevolent government. Of course, this “free” grant money is going to cost the local taxpayers another $50,000 match. This money just covers the engineering portion of the project and not any actual construction. It would be my guess that the construction portion of the project will not be done by a local construction company. Well perhaps the affordable housing will bring some more taxpayers into the area and help with our tax burden? Right? Wrong.

As many residents know the water and sewer rates have increased because our old sewage plant cannot handle the volume, yet the building inspector has approved permits for four more homes within the city limits. Do these homes have bathrooms? Do people that live in affordable housing use the restroom or better yet, will they have to pay the same water and sewer bills as everyone else. That’s right, the public housing authority pays them an allowance (more free money) for utilities. Perhaps I should attend some of the trustee meetings. I am told they are not actually drunk sailors.

In the Trustee meeting, mention was made about the sheriff’s report in a previous edition. It was stated that the statement made was false. Something about Class III firearms being returned to the sheriff’s office. It was also stated that the specific part of the report was not law enforcement related, and that the whole incident is only mentioned so it can be in the public record. This may all be true, but now that it’s out there and if public record is the way to go, it begs me to ask these questions. I would like the answers to be on the public record. Why does Hinsdale County Sheriff’s Office have or need Class III machine Guns? When and why were they purchased? They should have been in the Sheriff’s safe the entire time, and if they had not been in the sheriff’s department then, where have they been and for how long and why?

_{William Bowling
Lake City}