Opinions fly on how to pay for county garage

About a dozen residents attended the hearing on funding a new Carlton County transportation garage in Barnum on Tuesday during the regular meeting of the Carlton County Board of Commissioners. Most people attending voiced concern that using a half-percent sales tax for funding the building would hinder road maintenance projects.

In a PowerPoint presentation, county engineer JinYeene Neumann said space is limited at the aging facility, which was built in 1975 and added onto in 1978. In the 1970s, dump trucks were 25-feet long and motor graders were 27-feet long. Now dump trucks are 39-feet long and motor graders are 39-feet long. Snow plows need to have blades mounted outside the current shop — regardless of weather conditions — because not all the trucks with blades can fit in the building with the rest of the equipment there. A total of 20 employees work out of the Barnum garage.

Updating the present garage and adding enough square footage to make a building of 50,184 square feet will cost approximately $10 million. To pay those costs, the county would issue a 20-year bond, to be paid for via one or a combination of the following three sources:

• Using the existing half-percent sales tax that funds maintenance of county roads above the number of 100;

• A wheelage tax paid when county residents buy new license tabs;

• Property tax levy.

Neumann said $600,000 would be needed for an annual payment for 20 years on a $10 million building program. Property taxes would have to increase about 2.5 percent to cover that. Paying it out of the half-percent sales tax revenues would curtail one-third of the construction projects listed for that funding. A $20 per vehicle license renewal fee would fund the bond payment. Exempt vehicles would include motorcycles, business trucks and truck/trailer combinations, collector vehicles and tax-exempt and state-owned vehicles.

Comments from the audience centered on protecting the sales tax used to fix roads. “Once you start to take from a dedicated fund that is for work on the roads, it’s easy to raid the funds again and again until it is gone,” Kettle River contractor Kevin Peura said. “I have spoken to 30 to 40 people and no one is in favor of touching the sales tax road funding.”

Judy Isaacson of Moose Lake said the poor condition of county gravel roads has not been addressed. Heavy recreational traffic in the summer and fall takes its toll on rural roads, she said. Spring breakup has shown the poor condition of gravel roads, she said.

Commissioners Gary Peterson and Mark Thell have heard from their mostly rural constituents that the half-percent sales tax fund should not be used. Peterson said he is considering $10 coming from the wheelage tax and $10 more coming from property taxes. Thell said his constituents are satisfied with a wheelage tax. Commissioner Tom Proulx said his Cloquet constituents have reached their limit of taxes and using the half-percent sales tax funds would mean no extra taxes. Commissioners Dick Brenner and Marv Bodie spoke of some combination of funding.

The board did not make a decision but may schedule a vote at the next commissioners meeting later this month.

Jail moves

The board approved the minutes of the June 24 meeting, including three votes concerning the proposed new jail that were approved as unanimous. One concerned the hiring of BKV to bring a recommendation for a jail building project to an August meeting, one approved looking for a bonding attorney to protect the county’s bonding position, and the third was to look for a proposed bonding firm. Proulx said he didn’t cast a vote either way on the three proposals, but he didn’t object to the minutes.

Peterson said the Carlton High School site “is the best site for a new jail and would save substantial construction costs.”

Brenner said the Carlton School District wanted to know when the last possible date the county would need for any decisions on the school site option. “We just need to wait and see what they do,” Brenner said.

Extension

County Coordinator Dennis Genereau presented an overview of the University of Minnesota Extension program in Carlton County. He said there has been a discussion of how the local program is supervised. The local program is being reorganized and a firm proposal will be presented soon.

The director of the County Collaborative, Donna Lekander, is being considered as a supervisor for Extension staff. Extension has asked that the county take over the byproducts program and to rename it as a “soil improvement program.” Proulx asked if there will be any cost to the county budget but didn’t get a direct answer.

Legal

County Attorney Lauri Ketola said she has been assessing the staffing in her department. There are three legal secretaries all doing similar work. After consulting the human resources department, Ketola will have one of her legal secretaries become a senior legal secretary.

Ketola reported that Window Victim Services, which handles domestic abuse work for Carlton County, has lost its program funding from the state and federal governments. She said the situation is “fluid” at this time.