Whew, that was close. By only a 5-4 margin, the Duluth City Council maintained its fiscal sanity Monday. It agreed to up property taxes “only” 5.7 percent next year, which, when combined with the property tax freeze approved by St. Louis County, should keep the overall hike within Duluthians’ budgets. Egged on by Mayor Herb Bergson, councilors Greg Gilbert, Laurie Johnson, Donny Ness and Russ Stover decided that hiking the taxes on Duluth homes by 20 percent would create fewer problems than cutting government services. We beg to differ. A 20 percent increase in property taxes would increase demand for some government services, as it forced the poorest homeowners in the city onto the street or made them reduce their spending on food, medicine or clothing in order to stay in their homes. So much for the compassion of liberals. As the chart below provided by Hermantown Mayor Dave Allen reveals, the loss of state aid being suffered in Duluth is not nearly as severe proportionally as that suffered by some of our neighbors. A 3 percent cut in state aid does not necessitate a 20 percent hike in property taxes. It would have brought in more than twice the amount of the state aid cut. It is always difficult to make cuts in services, and the council has left itself in an unenviable position. It remains no less the right position.