KOERING NOT SURPRISED BY REFERENDUM OUTCOME

Fort Ripley State Senator Paul Koering said yesterday he was not surprised at the results of Tuesday's school referendum elections in Brainerd and Crosby-Ironton. Koering said the voters he had spoken to in the days and weeks before could talk about little else. And the way they spoke about the issue led him to believe the tide was building against higher property taxes, no matter what they were for. Koering said people can stand only so much whether its politician or more taxes and pretty soon, they'll push back. He said "thank God we have a democracy here" and he hopes the people on the 'education side' get a message from the elections. Koering said he's sure lawmakers will try to find more money for education in the next session but he wants to know how much is enough. The next economic forecast will tell lawmakers how much extra money they have, for whatever they want to spend it on.