City council approves 2013 budget with 1.2 percent tax increase
Grand Marais city councilors’ last meeting of the year was also the shortest. Councilors met for about 10 minutes on Dec. 26 to put the final stamp of approval on the city’s 2013 budget and levy. As adopted, the levy for next year is $824,152.44, which is a 1.12 percent property tax levy increase. The action concludes the lengthy budget […]
School board 2013 levy set with 7 percent increase
The ISD 166 school board spent time in quiet deliberation before deciding where to set the levy at its last meeting of the year on December 20. Any tax increases would be hard for residents, Deb White said to her colleagues on the school board. As enrollment continues to decline over the next couple of years, Superintendent Beth Schwarz said, […]
Planning commission ponders permits for un-sided and storage struc tures
What constitutes a building? Should fabric-covered hoops set into the ground require a building permit? What about an RV or cargo trailer that sits on a property and is only used for storage? The Cook County Planning Commission pondered these questions at their monthly meeting on December 19. Planning & Zoning Director Tim Nelson said his department has been seeing […]
Hospital levy to stay the same in 2013
Cook County property taxpayers can expect some increases in their 2013 property taxes, but they won’t see an increase in the hospital levy. On December 20, 2012, the hospital board voted to keep it at $800,000 for another year. “My hope had been to decrease it,” said North Shore Hospital & Care Center Administrator Kimber Wraalstad. Given financial projections for […]
A time to reconcile
At the end of 2012, the state of Minnesota commemorated an incredibly painful anniversary. December 26 marked the 150th year since 38 Dakota men were hanged in Mankato, the largest mass execution in U.S. history. It pains me that Minnesota holds this horrific historical record. And it hurts even more to think of the events that led up to the […]
County attorney should step down
Why hasn’t Tim Scannell done the mature thing and resigned from his job? He hasn’t only insulted his wife and children, the girl and her family, but all of Cook County. We don’t need this kind of publicity. He’s an embarrassment to our city and county. I understand that he cannot be fired, because he was elected, and it is […]
Who wins with demise of wolf?
For the past 30 years I have developed the Bally Creek ski trails with the help of the US Forest Service, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and many volunteers. With its 20 miles of ski trails that interconnect with the Cascade State Park, this small system provides the general public with access to hiking, hunting, horseback riding, mountain biking and […]
“No Service Zones” should not be plowed
We sat on last week’s letter for a month giving the commissioners time to admit they made a mistake on the plowing of Irish Creek, Tom Lake and Powers Lake roads. They chose not to do so. We guess that Jan Hall is the only commissioner who understands English—that an area that the county zoning labeled a “No Service Zone” […]