After long slog, bonding bill is signed

After five special sessions since the regular session ended in May, the Minnesota Legislature last week passed a $1.9 billion bonding bill. It was signed Wednesday by Gov. Tim Walz.

The bonding will allow for public works projects across the state, including a $7.5 million grant to Twin Lakes Township to design and construct a water main from Carlton County along the Minnesota Highway 210 corridor to Interstate 35. The waterline will alleviate fears about wells contaminated with arsenic and also offer an expected economic boost to the business development. Poor water quality and a lack of it from wells have been problems for hotels, stores and restaurants along the highway.

Corrections

The bonding bill also includes one-time money for the Department of Corrections, $7.5 million, that will allow it to keep running the Challenge Incarceration Program in Willow River and Togo. The unique rural prison program had been slated to be cut, causing an uproar in the region about lost jobs and a program proven to reduce recidivism. The payment will cover costs in running the program for the next year.

Legislators will need to figure out how to keep funds flowing to keep the programs open.

The bonding bill indicates some longevity for the Willow River facility, as $1.8 million was appropriated for a new communications system there. It includes a new radio tower and microwave system along with a new building to house communications equipment.

Carlton County was not granted permission by the legislature to ask county residents about applying a sales tax to pay for a new jail. New authorization rules require government bodies to provide detailed information on proposed uses of the local sales tax revenue and information on the “regional significance.” That didn’t happen before the session ended in May among the chaos sowed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The silver lining for the county is that it will receive $2 million from the bonding bill for use in design work for a new jail, specifically in how it will serve female inmates. Planning a jail that will serve females appropriately would heighten the jail’s use as a regional facility beyond county borders.

Consolidation

Equalization measures were cut out of the final bonding bill, meaning funding for a proposed consolidation between Carlton and Wrenshall districts is on hold. It isn’t clear if a similar measure can be introduced in the 2021 session.

In the end, it means there has been a sudden halt to what had been a nearly two-year rush by superintendents and school board members to line up the districts for consolidation. This week, both school boards had regular meetings but members were reticent to talk about what might be next.

The Carlton board had scheduled a meeting for Thursday, Oct. 22 to talk about “contingencies” should consolidation fall by the wayside. In meetings this past summer, those plans included pushing for state equalization in the next session or abandoning consolidation altogether. Other options include converting South Terrace Elementary into a K-8 school and releasing high schoolers to another district.

Debt service equalization programs allow the state to guarantee a certain amount of tax base per student for projects. The program is said to “equalize” uneven amounts of tax base among school districts by offering state aid to help those districts that have relatively low amounts of tax base per student and high amounts of debt service. The measure Carlton and Wrenshall officials were pushing would have allowed such aid for districts seeking consolidation.

The districts had been feuding of late about the tax rates residents in a consolidated district would pay. While tax rates would expectedly go up as a new district improves its facilities, a study paid for by the Carlton board showed that rates in the consolidated district would be higher, compared to current taxes, for Carlton residents than for Wrenshall residents. That’s if the debts of both districts were combined and spread over the new tax base.

Under a consolidation, including bonding for new facilities in Wrenshall and Carlton and debt for each district blended in, the owner of a $200,000 home could see a school tax increase of $379 in Carlton. The increase would be $151 in Wrenshall.

Wrenshall had indicated to the Carlton board that it would not consolidate without combining the debts of the districts. Wrenshall board members have also said they would not seek consolidation with Carlton without state funding.

A consolidation committee made up of members of both boards is expected to meet next month.