Letter to the Editor: Annexation to destroy local economy

Editor,

Again, the City of Havre is proposing to annex business’s and land extending west along U.S. Highway 2 including but not limited to; The Holiday Village Mall, Hill Co. Electric, NorthWestern Energy, Havre Ford, and the AmericInn. Currently these business’s reside in the county, pay county taxes and pay for all the services they receive. Despite huge resistance and expensive litigation, the greedy City of Havre continues to attempt annexing this area into the city limits.

If the annexation is approved, this will affect everyone in the city and county and will result in further destruction of the local economy. Not only will the city double the taxes for land owners, it will also take tax revenue away from Hill County, thus causing a tax increase for every county tax payer to offset the loss.

On the flip side, the City of Havre has wasted more than $100,000 of tax payer dollars on lawyers trying to annex the property west of Havre and have yet to give up. The City of Havre currently cannot manage or maintain what it has. With the annexation, the city of Havre will also have to increase local taxes on every citizen to maintain the large area proposed for annexation.

Tim Solomon, who previously managed/destroyed our fairgrounds and airport and Andrew Brekke, who does not own a business or pay property taxes, both these individuals are currently on track for destroying what economy the Havre area has left.

As a land owner, I do not want to be part of the city limits and therefore I oppose the annexation. The City of Havre needs to give up, leave things alone and engage in supporting local business’s. However, instead of tax increases, it is time to cut the fat and tell Tim Solomon and Andrew Brekke to resign their positions. Its time to make this community great again.

Sincerely,

Kyle Austin

Havre