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LaFave, Romps answer questions in state rep race

ESCANABA — Incumbent State Rep., Beau LaFave (R), and challenger Bob Romps (D), stated their views on the issues at the Upper Peninsula Candidate Forum.

Both candidates had two minutes to address questions posed by moderator Fred Kotler. They were asked what their three top budget priorities are and why they are necessary.

LaFave said roads and bridge upgrades, additional funding in schools and economic development in the Upper Peninsula. are top priorities.

“I’m proud to be part of the 99th Legislature, where we devoted the biggest per pupil funding increase for public education in 17 years,” said LaFave.

LaFave said K-12 teachers and administrators are spread a little thin and he will continue the fight in Lansing to get schools more funding.

“We need more money for roads and bridges,” said LaFave, adding funding was added into the last budget.

Romps said his priorities include additional funding for schools. He said the current increase in funding is too little too late — currently at $1,800 per student.

“We need to do this for our kids, our future is our kids,” said Romps.

Romps said road work is also a budget priority.

“I’m telling you, placing the blame where it doesn’t belong isn’t the way to fix them,” said Romps.

His third priority is mental health.

“It is a system that’s been underfunded, for eight straight years,” Romps said.

Romps said he is also concerned about the opioid epidemic, mentioning people calling Escanaba, “Methcanaba” because of the area’s drug problem.

The another forum question concerned state taxation and the dark stores — “Much activity in the U.P., including a lawsuit here in Delta County, on what’s been called the darkstore loophole, it’s been demonstrated to significantly reduce tax obligations for large corporate retailers and have a negative impact on the local budgets. What legislative action, if any, would you favor to address this issue?”

Romps said he has spoken to Escanaba city officials about the dark store issue and a taxation dispute with the local Menards store that resulted in the loss of $400,000 in taxes.

“I’d propose a bill to turn this around,” said Romps.

LaFave said, “They’re playing legal games to save money on taxes.”

“I would tell the tax tribunal we’re going to use all three appraisals methods. One is the cost approach. If they spent a million dollars for the land and a million dollars for the building, it’s probably worth about two million dollars,” said LaFave.

He continued to say he would lead an effort to establish a law to fix it the dark store issue.

Deborah Prescott can be reached at dprescott@dailypress.net

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