County stung by stalemate at capitol

When the Minnesota Legislature ended earlier this week without passing major bonding and tax bills, those waiting for funding word in Carlton County had to feel the sting. The failure to meet the deadline, and the push into a likely special session in mid-June, has ramifications from water lines to school consolidation to the county jail funding prospects.

Remaining in limbo is the measure that would have brought millions into the Carlton-Wrenshall school consolidation plan. A planned August referendum, asking residents for money to pay for the consolidation, has been scuttled as the deadline passes next week in order to set up such a vote. If a bill passes in special session allowing funding for consolidations, the earliest the districts could hold a vote would be the general election in November.

After months of scrambling to meet deadlines and get the consolidation revved up, all school officials can do now is wait.

County representative Sen. Jason Rarick said there were signs that the consolidation measure would pass without much scrutiny but it got caught up in bills that were too large for lawmakers to agree on. Because the tax bill had ramifications on the bonding bill, both languished.

“It’s not that the bill didn’t pass,” Wrenshall superintendent Kim Belcastro told her school board this week, explaining that the measure that would allow consolidation funding was tied to the overall tax bill. “It’s just more waiting,” she said.

Rarick said the focus on the COVID-19 pandemic could hamper legislation going into the summer. “Any spending outside of COVID-related issues is going to be very limited,” he said.

Also hung up is the measure allowing Carlton County to go to a vote to ask for a sales tax increase to help fund a new jail. County board chairman Marv Bodie said the county will likely need to file an extension on the July 2023 deadline the state set to close the current jail due to its aging infrastructure.

“It is what it is,” Bodie said of the delay in St. Paul.

Itasca County received a similar death sentence on its jail facility but received a 20-month extension from the state earlier this month.

Bodie said funding for the Twin Lakes waterline project is another hostage in the legislative stalemate.

When the special session begins, Rep. Mike Sundin expects the focus to be on distributing federal aid sent to the state to help with the pandemic response. He said Carlton County is expected to receive nearly $3 million based on per capita funding. The city of Cloquet would see $636,765 in aid while Scanlon and Carlton would see about $50,000 each.