All is quiet on fire service taxes front

What a difference a year makes. Last December, nearly two dozen upset Thomson Township residents attended the Cloquet Area Fire District truth-in-taxation hearing, many of them to address the board about a more than 300-percent increase in their proposed ambulance taxes.

This month’s fire district truth-in-taxation hearing saw only four audience members, with only one — former CAFD board member Eric Rish — from Thomson Township. While Rish used the Dec. 8 meeting to ask several questions about how other communities supplement coverage of ambulance costs, no one questioned the numbers presented...