Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1933-03-09
REPLY TO IN DEFENSE OF THE
WILLOW RIVER SCHOOL AND
TAXPAYERS


Editor Askov American:
Your letter in the last issue of the
Askov American, while rather crit
ical, indicates that you are. by a long
letter, attempting to throw out
smoke screen that the taxpayers Will
not understand, or you do not under
stand the subject yourself.
In the first place the Willow River
School District No. 81 has an excess
sive school tax rate Of 97.5 mills ana
total tax rate of 144.5 mills which
the taxpayers can not any longer
pay Compare this school tax rate
with other surrounding schools:
Sandstone village, district No. s. 45.6
mills; Pine City village. district No. 8,
27.1 mills; Bruno village. district NO.
54, 49.4 mills; Askov village, district
No. II, 5O.7. | recommend. Mr.. Gus
tafson, that you study the 1882 tax
statement issued by the Pine county
treasurer.
Yes, the county board did reduce
the valuation of the whole county ap-
proximately $2,4OO,00O or 300. Both
Bruno and Willow River districts are
Included In this ratio and the tax
rate in Bruno district No. "a was re-
duced "a mills while the Willow River
district No. 81 was raised II mills,
so this should be clear to you.
shall try to mention some of the
amusing and misleading statements.
In paragraph No. 4, Mr.. Gustafson
states that the state law No. 2S65a
states that the state aids will no
longer be Forthcoming to us. BY writ
ing ito u.s. of course, district No. q
will not get the state aid as 1t Is
dissolved and made part of larger
unit, but the fact still remains that
state aid that it is now getting but
1t will get a little more supplemental
aid than was possible to get under
the organized plan.
Our school district No. 70 was con-
solidated with the Willow River dis
trict some years ago and while we,
who were in district 70, did not get
the state aid as a part of district
No. 79, we did, however, get more
state aid through school district No.
81. This is identically the case with
the school district No. 105 which was
consolidated with the Willow River
school at that same time.
The amusing and misleading state
ment is that the people are led to
believe that our school will earn less
state aid or will get no state aid,
which is not the case.
You ask, please explain Mr.. s.
what you mean by muddle?' If
you mean by S., the school board, a
very good question. The taxpayers
are entitled to know why the school
board raised the salary of the pro-
fessor when all salaries are coming
down. Also explain the reason for
some of the eXorbitant bills published
and paid for helping the janitor, haul
ing wood, cutting weeds, etc. l think
the president of the school board can
explain these questions very easily
and thereby stop lot of talk go
ing on.
Mr.. Gustafson says that he looked
up the public examiners report and
found S22.641.OO was deposited in the
closed Willow River bank, but he does
not tell us the amount of the out
standing school orders at that time,
which was in the thousands of dol
lars. and these school orders drew in
terest for several years before the
bank closed and up to 192S-1929 when
taken up after the Supreme Court de-
cisiOn was rendered.
In 192S-1929 the clerk of school dis
trict No. q filed financial report
with the county superintendent Of
schools showing the amounts received
and the amounts paid out and this
report shows S34, S6392 as other ex-
pense payments, or paid out for other
then school expenses for that year.
Since you looked up the records, Mr..
Gustafson, will you kindly explain
what this S34.863.92 was paid for?
And how this large amount was
raised? Was it not levied for several
years against the taxable property Of
the district?
Also explain the cost, expenses, and
litigation of the case of the Willow
River school district vs.. the State
Bank of Willow River which was car
ried to the Supreme Court in this
matter. You might also explain the
school orders placed in escrow for
which settlement was finally made
and this is the settlement l think you
refer to when you say that I was on
the school board when a settlement
was made.
Now, Mr.. Gustafson. l do not need
your help to get my facts straight.
All l ask you to do is to answer these
questions and to post yourself on fact.
You might be able to mislead some
people but you can't mislead all the
people. Records will speak for them
selves and if you will post yourself
you will find that l told the truth and
so did Mr.. Engum. There is no OBJ
ject for me to say anything but the
truth and if l thought for a minute
that the change to the UnOrganized
District would be of no benefit to the
taxpayers, l surely would not recon-
mend the change
F. W. STEFAN.
Willow River. MINI.