We have two important issues on the ballot in our local election. The ballots should be mailed back by Nov. 2. If you haven’t completed your ballot, now is the time to do so and mail it in.

The first issue is the school district override to help increase teacher salaries. That’s a no-brainer. The language is a bit confusing but vote yes.

The other issue is the election of two candidates to the Sanitary District Board of Directors. That’s also a very easy choice. There are two challengers running against two incumbents. The incumbents, Gregg Dudash and Tom Reski, have a combined total of 70 years of experience with sanitary districts. The two challengers have no experience in that area. That’s really all you need to know.

The challengers offer a confused agenda which shows that they know nothing about a sanitary district. This is obvious in just reading their responses to questions submitted to The Times. The challengers seem to think that the district can magically improve the quality of Class A+ effluent, the highest effluent standard in the state.

The problem is dissolved salt, which comes from water softeners. Salt is bad for the grass in our parks and golf courses. Standard wastewater treatment, anywhere in the country, does not remove salt from wastewater. The only way to do so would be to build an expensive reverse osmosis plant, costing $30 million. That would require a huge hike in sanitary district user fees, so that’s not an option. In short, the opponents offer nice-sounding but unrealistic ideas. I’m not buying it.

The two incumbents have years of relevant experience with sanitary districts. It shows. They are very competent and that makes the choice simple. Vote to re-elect Tom Reski and Gregg Dudash.