County Administrator Jeff Cadwell presented preliminary 2017 county levy requests to the Cook County Board of Commissioners at the August 22 meeting. In this first draft, the proposed levy has grown 25.99 percent, an increase of $840,359.
In 2016, commissioners worked through initial requests that would have resulted in a 27.8 percent levy increase before winnowing it to an 8.5 percent levy increase over 2015.
Both Cadwell and Auditor Braidy Powers have been meeting with department heads over the past month and Cadwell said there would be no easy cuts made from those stated needs.
Commissioner Garry Gamble pointed out that from 1989 to 2017 “expenditures to revenues have nearly tripled.”
Gamble was close. In 1989 budgeted expenditures were $7,996,541 and budgeted revenues were $4,892,395. For 2017 county expenditures will be $19,7110,385 while budgeted revenues will be $10,802,290.
“We have to approve a preliminary budget by September 30,” Powers said. “It’s not going to be easy. We will need your [board] guidance and direction if we are going to go back to the departments.”
Commissioner Frank Moe worried that “We are number one or two in the state,” in the amount of levy dollars paid per person. Last year Cook County’s 8.5 percent levy increase was the highest in the state.
“I don’t know anyone whose income has gone up 26 percent,” Moe said. “We need to do better.”
One question commissioners will wrestle with is, as Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk stated is, “Do we want to continue offering services at the level we have been? We need to decide the level of services we will provide.”
Cadwell asked the board to appoint two of its members to serve with him and Powers on a committee that will meet once again with department heads. Gamble and Commissioner Jan Sivertson agreed to represent the board on that committee.
Transportation tax moving ahead
After the recent public meeting to gain insight on what the public would like to see from a one-half cent transportation sales and use tax, the board instructed County Administrator Cadwell to draft a resolution for the tax which will be voted on at the next commissioners’ meeting.
The Greater Minnesota Transportation Sales and Use Tax is expected to bring in about $750,000 per year for the county highway department, with no sunset on the tax, but it could be ended at any time by the county board.
Commissioners held a spirited discussion about the list of projects to be funded by tax proceeds, but Cadwell said the list could be changed by a county board motion and projects could be added or subtracted.
David Betts, the county’s highway engineer, asked that the list not be prioritized so that projects—say a bridge or a highway building that collapsed—could be put to the top of the list if needed. Commissioners appeared to agree.
Commissioner Moe called for a motion to take facilities off the list because that was what a majority of the public had asked for at the August 15 public meeting, but his motion failed to pass by a 3-2 vote.
Betts told commissioners the county’s cold storage highway buildings are ready to fall down and the county is in great need of a salt/sand storage space because MnDOT has said that after 2021 the county can’t store its salt/sand on its property.
Doo-Kirk told Moe the county could put the estimated $15 million in future highway building projects on the levy. Moe said there were no easy answers but with his motion he wanted to respect the people who had voiced their opinion.
Moe then asked that the Highway Advisory Committee be given authority to look at future highway/bridge projects to give its opinion about those projects to the county board, which would then make a final decision.
Gamble said the board should listen to its highway engineer first and foremost and it didn’t need another layer of decision making by an advisory committee. Moe didn’t offer a motion on his suggestion.
The board will vote next week and if the tax is implemented, it will start in January.
Lighting requests
Zoning Administrator Bill Lane brought forth two conditional use permit (CUP) requests for lighting, one for the Holiday Station Store in Tofte and one for garages that will be built for the Tofte housing project on the Birch Grove Community Center grounds.
Holiday stores have been replacing internally-lit mercury halogen lighting systems with light emitting diodes (LED) because they are more efficient, can be changed in color and wording easier and are more cost effective, said Lane.
Brian Olsen, store manager at the Tofte Holiday, met with the Tofte Design Review Board on the proposed change and he received their blessing, said Lane, adding that the planning commission also voted to unanimously give its approval. The county board also approved the request.
The second application came from the Tofte township, which added garages to its 12-unit planned housing development after the original conditional CUP had been granted by the county. Lane said the Planning Commission reviewed the request and gave it the green light, but Lane added, he hoped the lights would be downcast to protect the night skies.
Doo-Kirk said for insurance purposes and safety concerns lighting needed to be included for the garages, and Gamble agreed with her. Commissioner Storlie made a motion to authorize the lighting, which passed unanimously.
County lends support to single-track biking trails
Tim Kennedy, president, Superior Cycling Association (SCA), asked the county to sponsor a request by SCA to seek funds from the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Program (GMRPTP).
“This request is intended to provide funding for the construction of multi-purpose mountain biking trails connecting Lutsen Mountains and the Britton Peak trailhead,” said Kennedy.
During GMRPTP’s last project evaluation, the Cook County Mountain Bike Trail System proposal was assigned a high rating, and was given a designation as a Regional Park Trail. Currently there are 15.5 miles of single-track trails at Britton Peak and at Pincushion.
As a sponsor of the grant, Kennedy said there would be no cost to the county. And, he added, SCA would continue to maintain the current trails and more if they are built. He also suggested the arrangement between the county and the SCA be strengthened through a legal document that spells out each party’s responsibilities and duties. The board agreed and County Attorney Hicken will draft the document and bring it back to the board. The board passed a motion to act as a sponsor for the grant request.
In other business
. The board approved a mutual aid/assistance agreement for emergency management between Cook County and Lake County. County Attorney Molly Hicken said the agreement would go into effect only if it was determined that the county assessed its own needs and felt it could lend assistance. This would probably happen in the event of a wide spread forest fire. Compensation would only be paid to the assisting party if the mutual aid lasted eight hours or longer.
This supports the idea that we are in one boat together,” said Sivertson.
. Commissioners approved a special event permit for Rushway Pictures, LLC to close portions of Wisconsin Street and Broadway Avenue on September 12-13 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Rushway Pictures will shoot short scenes for a comedy/ drama that will be filmed in Grand Marais and Duluth and along the North Shore. The film’s director and producer is hoping people will come down and watch as the movie is shot so they can be shown in the background scenes. If you ever wanted to be in the movies, this could be your big chance to be discovered.
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