It was nice of Mayor Huether to allow the financial director of our city, Tracy Turbak, to sign this letter to the editor. Apparently, the city is embracing the glass is half full philosophy;
Nearly half of the city’s debt relates to public utility services — water, sewer and landfill — and is repaid by the users of these services — not general taxpayers.
While I thought Mike Turbak made some good points about the differences between city and state debt, this statement above by Tracy Huether had me a bit concerned. So almost HALF our city debt (around $200 million) is for things other than infrastructure? That was the whole point of Ellis’ column, the fact that the city should stop borrowing and creating debt for entertainment/recreation. But obviously in the midst of campaign season, that went right over Turbak’s head, uh, I mean, Mike’s head.