While visiting family and friends in the Mandan area, where I was born and raised, I noticed that the Mandan City Commission appears to be spending money irresponsibly. It is hard to believe that local public officials would allow the city to be $58 million in debt and are making it worse by spending $600,000 on improvements to 19th Street South, where few buildings exist; $145,000 toward a park related to the new Liberty Memorial Bridge; $100,000 for an electric "Welcome to Mandan" sign; and a plan for replacing the Collins Avenue water tank with a new and possibly larger water tank at the cost of several million dollars.

The inevitable overrun on these projects will drive those costs higher. Add to that a special events center and a $6 million Library Square II project, and where does that leave the city of Mandan and its taxpayers? Horribly in debt and financially broke.

Mandan's elected public officials think special assessments will solve their monetary problems stemming from such spending habits. They seem to be operating on the principle put forth in the movie "Field of Dreams": "Build it and they will come." Statements by Mayor Ken LaMont and Commissioner Dan Ulmer lead me to believe they are operating on that premise. Doing so, they have financially broken the city. Where does the money come from to pay for this debt?

It comes from Mandan taxpayers and their children who will be paying the debt for many years to come.

I have been mayor of Bessemer, Mich., for four years. I find it mind-boggling that public officials in Mandan would saddle taxpayers with so much debt. It would have been legally impossible in Michigan.

If I were looking to relocate either my business or home, I certainly would not go to Mandan. I would go instead to a fiscally responsible community with lower taxes. I hope the taxpayers of Mandan can unite to end the fiscal irresponsibility of their elected public officials.