In response to the July 24 car-tax letter (“Voters, not council, should vote on car-tax”) suggesting alternative funding sources for road repair; the information is misleading and warrants clarification.

BITV does not charge the city an exorbitant $400 hourly fee as Mr. Olsen states.

BITV provides community television, informational, and educational community services in return for a percentage of the cable franchise fees the city collects, some of which are restricted and designated for television programming equipment funds.

These funds cannot be used for roads. Any fees for services paid by the city to BITV are well below market rates.

Previously, Mr. Olsen made public statements fully supporting BITV and its long-term contract with the city to provide public television services for the community.

His supportive comments were printed in this paper, in blogs, and were made public.

Mr. Olsen is no longer associated with BITV and has therefore chosen to use misinformation to justify his car-tax argument.

We encourage anyone to contact us if you want more information about BITV.

Scott Schmidt

Executive Director, BITV