County needs better roads, less equipment tax

If there’s one thing Republican Mike Schlegel knows, it’s roads. A former member and chairman of the Flathead County Road Advisory Committee, Schlegel is also president of Schlegel and Sons, a road construction company. Schlegel said this experience will serve him well as Flathead County Commissioner for District 3.

One of Schlegel’s goals as Commissioner would be to improve the timber industry in Flathead County by way of infrastructure and increased access to public lands, such as the Flathead National Forest. But that doesn’t necessarily mean building more roads, Schlegel said.

“We don’t need one more mile of roads on the Flathead National Forest,” Schlegel said. “We need to take care of what we’ve got.”

Schlegel said that of more than 2 million acres of Flathead National Forest land, about 400,000 are accessible and roaded. He said he would like to see that land put to work..

Rather than shipping the resulting lumber out of state, Schlegel said he’d try to maintain infrastructure between sawmills that would allow it to stay local.

Schlegel also emphasized the need to foster innovation in local business and industry, including the timber industry. The biomass plant at F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Co. is one example, he said — clean energy projects such as the one at Stoltze are generally appreciated by the county, state and federal governments and communities. Improving county revenue will be a major goal if he is elected as commissioner.

“Without industry, taxpayers alone cannot fund our services,” Schlegel said.

Getting rid of the state tax on business equipment would be a major step toward improving the local economy, Schlegel said.

“In an economy like ours, we’ve had to start selling equipment,” Schlegel said.

Most of that equipment has gone to Canada, he said, where the income it generates doesn’t benefit Montana businesses. Schlegel said the state has not been proactive enough in creating jobs and increasing revenue, and has turned instead to the business equipment tax.

“The business equipment tax needs to go away,” Schlegel said. “We need to start working in the state again to generate revenue instead of punishing businesses.”

Schlegel believes that the best way to avoid lawsuits and litigation, including the Whitefish “doughnut” lawsuit, is for each agency to observe their established limits.

“We have boundaries for a reason, and it’s when we overstep those boundaries that we get lawsuits,” Schlegel said. “It’s important for governments and the county to follow the law, seek legal advice and do a lot of fact-finding.”

Schlegel also believes the county needs to address overcrowding in the county jail. One potential solution would be to expand the Justice Court building, he said, but only after the appropriate research has been done.

Schlegel is running against Terry Kramer, Gerald “Jay” Scott, Gary Krueger and Bob Herron for the Republican candidacy. The winner of the June 5 primary will face Democratic candidate Clara Mears-LaChappelle in general election on Nov. 7.