Candidates at odds over transit taxes in Washington County

Two Woodbury residents with varying backgrounds and approaches are competing for a key Washington County board seat that will be vacated this fall when longtime commissioner Dick Stafford retires.

Cheryl Hurst and Lisa Weik differ on the county budget, but perhaps their sharpest difference lies with the county's new sales tax for transit projects. Weik opposes the tax and wants to rescind it, saying that Washington County can participate in the metrowide competition for transit projects without assessing the tax. Hurst supports the tax as necessary for Washington County to attract public transit.

Commissioners in Washington County voted 3-2 last spring to join four other counties in enacting the quarter-cent sales tax, which is expected to bring $100 million a year metrowide for transit improvements. The three commissioners in favor lost some faith in the arrangement, however, when they found out Washington County would receive $1 million a year for three years despite producing more than $4 million a year in sales tax revenue.

Weik and Hurst both live in Woodbury, which accounts for most of District 5. The winner will replace Stafford, who is retiring a second time from the board after being appointed last winter to fill Greg Orth's seat. Orth, who had been elected to replace Stafford in 2006, died in a fall in a Mankato hotel late last year.

Weik, 50, is the Republican-endorsed candidate. She has lived in Woodbury since 1987 and is married with two children. Weik works for Medtronic, Inc., in Fridley and has worked in the areas of regulatory compliance and as a health care professional in clinical laboratories. She has a degree in biology from the University of Minnesota. She's been a parent volunteer for the Woodbury Athletic Association's baseball and soccer programs and at Woodbury High School.

Hurst, 50, said she didn't seek party support. She has lived in Woodbury since 1991 and is married with three children. She served 12 years on the Woodbury City Council during a period of the city's most vigorous growth and has been involved with several community organizations, including the parks and open space task force that led inventoried Woodbury's natural amenities, leading to two successful referendums to preserve open spaces. She is studying English at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

Neither candidate has served previously on the county board.

Hurst and Weik also differ in their approach to the county budget.

Hurst said that commissioners and county staff, in compiling next year's proposed budget, "are doing a fantastic job but that doesn't mean we can't be better" in a difficult economic climate. She favors an incentive program that rewards county employees for finding "verifiable savings." She opposes cuts in libraries and parks -- "those areas that citizens are using the most" -- but thinks the county should do more joint bidding for fuel, snowplows and other costs.

Weik said she doesn't support the county's proposed budget "in its present form" because of hard economic times and the reaction she's hearing from door-knocking. "People are agreeing right now is not the time for property tax increases," she said. "We need to focus on core and essential services in light of the economic downturn. Everything's on the table right now."

Commissioners voted for a 4.9-percent maximum increase in the county's property tax levy for 2009. The final budget won't be settled until December, when either Weik or Hurst takes office.

One of Weik's proposed cuts is county aid to Historic Courthouse, a museum and public gathering place in Stillwater. She's in favor of eliminating $244,800 from the proposed budget for that purpose. Hurst, however, pledged caution in considering any cuts to Historic Courthouse. "Once you make a decision to make a historical monument disappear, you can never get it back," Hurst said.