5/12/13
The Insider is wondering if Shorewood residents actually care about the budget of the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District.
Why would you care? Well, the LMCD's main revenue source is the "membership" fees paid by the cities that border Lk. Minnetonka. In 2013, the total membership fee revenue is $439,000 of which Shorewood pays just under $32,000, or 18 percent. This is about $4 for every woman, man and child residing in Shorewood, or about six tenth's of one percent of Shorewood's annual budget.
In the past few years, the LMCD has kept its budget increases at or near zero. For 2014, it's proposing two budget alternatives. One, has an increase of about 3% and the second has an 18.6% increase. The first budget is supposed to maintain the status quo. The second has a major increase in spending for AIS management. Shorewood's piece of this increase would be about $3400, or about 40 cents per resident per year.
While the budget draft doesn't specify exactly how the increase in AIS management funds would be used, it seems pretty obvious that it would be for chemical treatment of milfoil according to the LMCD's recently adopted management plan.
So, what do you, the residents of Shorewood want to do? Support increased AIS funding at the LMCD or not? Note that Shorewood has been funding milfoil chemical treatment at $6000 to $7000 per year for several years by supporting the Lk Minnetonka Association's treatment test program for Phelps and Gideon's bays. Does Shorewood continue this funding and spend an additional $3400 or, what?
Happy Reading!
The Insider
My math says 7 percent approximately, Insider. But, yes, the LMCD is a complete waste of an agency. Hennepin County should administer and patrol the lake.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this comment. LMCD is self-serving and panders to the wealthy lake shore owners via the cities who border on the lake.
DeleteI have commented before that I think money for AIS should be raised through launch fee surcharges and permits for people who are using "public launches." If your boat comes and goes, you pay. Period. This is how AIS got into the lake to begin with.
The free ride is over. And by the way, I do not hear of any noticeable reduction in AIS. People who boat the lake comment on the milfoil. People who own shoreline comment on zebra mussels.
Nope. Marina owners dominate the LMCD.
DeleteVery good observation about the marina owners. They have a share of the responsibility too.
DeleteDNR Should administer, it's a state-wide asset and it is charged with managing natural resources.
ReplyDeleteRemind me again why we give money to the LMA while paying dues to the LMCD to do the same thing.
ReplyDeleteGood comments all. Insider can we compare (with the other cities) Shorewood's share of lake front property with the percent we are paying for its care? It should be proportional.
ReplyDeleteWe all know lake shore owners pay enormous property taxes. Shouldn't they get some attention/payback in the way of milfoil treatment?
I disagree with fees/permits for launching. I'll bet a LOT of boat launchers are like me: I live close to the lake and ONLY use my boat on Minnetonka. Why should I be punished over and over and over for some one else's mistake, while the lake shore owners pay nothing? Please explain the justice in that scheme.
I suggest
1) ending the tournaments & contests that draw people from a distance.
2) each year you license your boat for either infested lakes or clean lakes. The color of your sticker indicates which you have chosen. And God forbid you get caught on the wrong lake. Simple and effective.
The trouble with this solution is that it
1) costs nothing,
2) does not help lakeshore owners in their quest to privatize "their" lake and keep the scum (the rest of us) out.
3) does not enable politicians to get campaign contributions for voting the "right" way.
Three strikes - it will never happen.
A lot of good comments and perspectives here. What is most obvious is that not one comment supports the average non-lake shore owner in Shorewood subsidizing AIS control.
ReplyDeleteWe challenge councilmembers who read this blog (and we know you do) to explain your side of the argument.