Cook County government entities received $1,238,216 via the 2012 Taconite Property Tax Relief Fund and the 2013 Taconite Production Tax Distribution according to the Minnesota Revenue Mining Tax Guide published November 2013. That 1.2 million dollars does not include the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) funding to Cook County.
ISD 166, Cook County, Schroeder township, property owners, and other groups benefit from the taconite tax and programs such as the IRRRB. In a county where good paying jobs such as these are disappearing, where the county and the school district continue to annually cut budgets, this is needed money.
Do the Cook County officials, property owners and workers really want the county to risk losing this asset? If monies stopped coming to support Cook County, our neighbors in Lake, St. Louis, Itasca counties, and the Aitken/Crosby area would see increased income. Don’t you think they would like that influx of funding?
The Taconite Tax Relief Area is defined, in part as “(2) [a] school district in which, on January 1, 1977, or the applicable assessment date, there is a taconite concentrating plant or where taconite is mined or quarried or where there is located an electric generating plant which qualifies as a taconite facilty (emphasis mine).”
In 2013 Cook Country received $111,575 because of Taconite Harbor Energy Center (THEC) located in Schroeder. “Cook County continues to receive aid based on Minnesota Power’s power plant located in Taconite Harbor, due to the guarantee provided by M.S.298.225…” (Distribution of Funds (M.S. 298.28), Subd. 5(c) Tax Guide, p. 9)
This facility is being idled in the fall of 2016 and tentatively set to close in 2020. The ore dock and associated rail line on site haven’t been used for decades. Between the idling of THEC and an unused ore dock, Cook County has an extremely tenuous claim on the Taconite Relief Area Tax.
The county has been shown the potential ramifications of losing an asset that is tenuous with THEC being idled. Perhaps residents and visitors to Cook County should be made aware of the very tangible benefit that Cook County receives by being included in the State Revenue Mining Tax.
Why aren’t environmentalists cheering that a state-of-the-art copper mining facility is being built in the USA? The USA has incredibly tight environmental controls. Special interest groups and public scrutiny will be full-time and ongoing. Any copper mine in the USA is going to be on a watershed. Any mine. Wouldn’t such a mine be better off in the USA with its stringent oversight than in China, India or other developing nations where the environment is not as protected?
I would think all individuals associated with Cook County would be pleased that the Mining Tax Revenue is available to support Cook County. Unless, of course, individuals want to see Cook County become a ghost town where only an elite group can visit, play and live.
Val Littfin
Grand Marais
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