Thankful for local elections

As the national campaigns continue their descent into madness, we can be thankful here in Big Horn County that the races that most impact our daily lives — town, school, county and state — have been much more civil and constructive in tone.

This week’s issue is filled with Q&As with candidates who are seeking leadership roles on these governing bodies.  We hope that you take the time to learn about them and cast informed votes in Tuesday’s election. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Some races were more challenging than others from a coverage standpoint this year.  In addition to the usual questions about their backgrounds and why they are running, we tried to ask candidates questions about specific issues of importance to local readers.

The town candidates got questions about the appearance and upkeep of the community — stemming from letters and public comments at council meetings — and what should be next on the to-do list, given that the last few years have seen check marks put next to a pool, residential housing subdivision and business park.

For school candidates, we wanted to know about the Buff Ranch and the SRO proposal that’s been bandied about for what seems like forever. With the Legislature moving farther right with each election, there is a growing sense that part of the school security solution is going to be giving districts the option to allow employees to carry weapons into schools.  The next school board may be the one that deals with it, deciding between that and the hiring of an SRO or both.

In terms of county and state races, this has been one of the oddest years any of us observers can recall.  Seats that typically attract several candidates — county commission and the House district seat come to mind immediately — did not this year. Only the incumbents, Bruce Jolley and Dalton Banks — filed, which they should take as a compliment.

We commend all the candidates who took the time to respond to our Q&As.  While the main point is to help our readers make choices, we feel it’s also a good exercise to make them more effective leaders.

Some of the candidates whose responses are not printed couldn’t be reached.  Others told us they didn’t want to do it, which feels like an opportunity lost for a person seeking the public trust.

The ballot also includes two tax questions.  The first one, whether to continue support of the mill levy that supports the senior center, passes with plenty of room to spare every four years and it should again.  After all, who among us cannot relate to higher food prices and tightening budgets?

Constitutional Amendment A is a little more complicated.  On the one hand, it came about from the legislature’s push to lower everyone’s property taxes.  Sounds good, right?  But as we understand it, that won’t be accomplished by the passage of this amendment. At least not immediately. It would be a step in that direction, however.

But as ballot questions go, this one really hasn’t been sold well. Even the state’s county assessors aren’t sure what to make of it.  And then there are the other questions it raises.  If the amendment passes, it will put the burden on the legislature to deliver the actual relief to taxpayers. How will they do that?  And where would they find the revenue to replace what is not longer being generated by property taxes?

We look forward to moving beyond the election. We’ll start to do that next week.  Until then, our message is simply to “Go vote!”