The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
Ballot questions were a topic of discussion for the Foster County Commission at their meeting last week.
During the meeting held on Tuesday, August 2, the board discussed what they wanted on the ballot for the general election.
The 10 mills that make up the Federal Farm to Market fund will be expiring in 2025, and the two mills of the county road and bridge fund is also set to expire. Each of these funds were created with a time cap of 10 years.
The board discussed eliminating the farm to market fund and dumping those mills into the county road and bridge fund.
The law states that the county can levy 10 mills without voter approval, but if they eliminate the 10 mills from the Farm to Market Fund and combine it with the two mills from county road and bridge fund, that would create 12 mills and would need to be approved by the voters.
The board agreed to make a decision at their next meeting whether or not to put the question on the ballot this year.
The problem is, no one knows when or how much money the Prairie Dog bill will provide counties, which was created to help counties with road and bridge repair.
In other business:
• Carrington Mayor Tom Erdmann attended the meeting to discuss the city’s contract with the county for assessor services.
The county is asking the City of Carrington to pay $15,000 annually for assessor services, up from the $7,500 they were paying.
Erdmann told the board that he thinks charging the city $15,000 for those services is double taxing the citizens of the city.
Commissioner Becky Hagel explained that assessing the city’s properties is above and beyond what Tax Equalization Director Karen Evans does to assess county properties.
Erdmann said he thinks the taxes the citizens of Carrington are paying now should take care of county employee salaries without double taxing them.
Hagel said Evans and her assistant have a lot more work to do in assessing the city’s properties.
Hagel also explained that the law changed mandating that cities and townships must have a certified assessor and that the county can charge those cities and townships for the assessor services.
She said the money the city pays helps to offset costs incurred by the city,
• A motion was passed to move the clerk of court from step 9 to step 11 on the salary scale to be in-line with the other department heads.
• The board heard from Foster County Public Health Nurse Lisa Hilbert who attended the meeting to discuss the salary for the prevention coordinator she hired.
The prevention coordinator will receive $22.83 per hour.
• Foster County Auditor Ellen Roundy said she spoke with the state auditor’s office about the request for an extra $5,000 annually from the Foster County Historical Society.
She said she was told that instead of giving the historical society the $5,000, they should put the question on the ballot to increase their mills so as not to set a precedent.
• Finally, the board passed a motion to purchase a porta-potty for the Grace City shop for $850.
