The recent letter by Joan Lamb deserves comment.
1. Ms. Lamb is conflicted. It is a conflict of interest for a sitting politician to vote to contribute public funds to an organization, of which that individual is a member. Ms. Lamb is a member of the YMCA and is on the board of KART.
2. Ms. Lamb denies or does not understand that the sole intent of the LOT is to mitigate the impact of tourism on resort cities. The intent of the State Legislature and Idaho Statutes are very clear on this issue.
3. Ms. Lamb falsely states that the Mayor did not allow public comment during budget hearings. The Mayor allowed unlimited public comment but when Chamber members attempted to stack the meeting and take over the agenda he cut them off. The majority of those attempting to do this were not Sun Valley residents.
4. Upon assuming office the present administration found the staff in disarray and with low morale. The Police and Fire Departments were understaffed, 60% of the roads in substandard condition. Ms. Lamb does not want to fund these but would rather distribute taxpayer's money throughout Blaine County and lay an additional $10,000.000.00 levy on Sun Valley residents to repair infrastructure.
5. Ms. Lamb complains that the proposed budget cuts marketing support for local business by over 11%. It is not the proper use of public money to provide marketing for private business.
6. Not adequately funding recreation is a bogus issue. The entire valley is one big recreation area. Anyone suffering from lack of recreation here has a problem. Sun Valley taxpayers pay 196,000.00 to Blaine County recreation, 30,000.00 to Ketchum Parks. 75,000.00 to the "Y" and just spent 850,000.00 to repair the bike path.
Franz Suhadolnik
Sun Valley
