Cook County Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers told the county board on December 20, 2011 that Cook County has been in the top 25 percent of Minnesota counties in the amount of money it holds in its unreserved fund balance compared to its total current expenditures. It came in 19th out of 87 counties with a fund balance of 79.9% as of the end of 2009, the most recent year for which the state auditor has this information prepared.
Last June, Powers reported that the county’s fund balance was 64 percent. He said the county has had a “significant” fund balance in the years since he became auditor-treasurer. The state recommends that counties keep fund balances of 35-50 percent of their annual expenses. Cook County’s fiscal policy requires that the county maintain an unreserved fund balance of no less than 50 percent of the annual budget.
Cook County’s 2012 budget anticipates $17,178,352 in expenditures. In other county news:
The board authorized final payment to Edwin E. Thoreson Inc. for storm damage repairs to Creechville Road in Grand Marais. The original bid had been $53,337.81, but the final cost ended up being $69,149.15. Highway Engineer David Betts told the board he considered the overage “normal,” a result of clay needed to grade and shape the ditch and unanticipated rock. They ran into about 1,000 cubic yards of solid rock, he said.
Edwin E. Thoreson Inc. had to rent an excavator with a jackhammer, Betts said, but that was much cheaper than blasting would have been. “My opinion is that the project turned out really well,” he said.
Commissioner Fritz Sobanja called the project “reasonable,” saying the road is better than it ever was before.
The board authorized Assessor/
Land Commissioner Mary Black to seek the expertise of the Lake County Attorney’s Office or other outside counsel recommended by Assistant County Attorney Molly Hicken to review an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service to initiate an exchange of county land within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) with Forest Service land outside the BWCAW. The board made this decision in light of County Attorney Tim Scannell being out on leave after becoming a victim in a post-trial shooting on December 15..
Commissioner Bruce Martinson said the land exchange process started about eight years ago but didn’t continue because the Forest Service didn’t have the funds to pursue it. Lake County was able to exchange its BWCAW land with the Forest Service at that time, however.
Martinson said the county would get more payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILT) from the Forest Service for land inside the BWCAW than for Forest Service land outside the wilderness.
The board voted to be paid the same salary and per diem rates in 2012 as it was paid this year.
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