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It has come to my attention that the Longville City Council is considering at their next meeting, March 20th at 4:00 p.m., to abolish the local police force. As a property owner and business man in the area I encourage you to attend the meeting and or call the people serving on the council to ask them to reconsider. This is supposed to be a way of saving money. The city just spent almost $100,000 to purchase the old dentist office for a new city hall. How much will the remodeling of this building cost? That property will now be off the tax rolls so we can all pay more.

Let's compare our neighboring cities. Backus has a population of 251 residents. The Backus clerk has to keep track of sewer bills, water bills as well as all other city functions. Backus has a part time clerk at a cost of $30,000 per year and no assistant. Remer has a population of 371 residents. Remer has a water bill, sewer bill, and a municipal liquor store, as all other city functions. Remer, has a full time clerk at a cost of $32,600 per year. Hackensack has a population of 314 people. Hackensack has a water bill, sewer bill, municipal liquor store, and as all other city functions at a cost of $40,000 per year and no assistant. Hackensack's clerk has many years of experience and seniority. Longville has a population of 156. Longville has only a sewer bill, no water bill, and a municipal liquor store. Longville has a full time city administrator instead of a clerk at $50,000 per year and an assistant at $15,000 per year. I was given these numbers by a council person based off their memory. I made a written request to the Longville city office to verify the Longville number and was told it would take a week or two to get that information. When I called Remer, Backus and Hackensack I was given the numbers over the phone within minutes. If you compare our town to the neighboring towns, we should be able to get along with a 3/4 time clerk and no assistant. That savings alone will fund our local police force. Please express your concerns to the council and the mayor.[[In-content Ad]]

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