By Joanne Bergman The regular meeting of the Murray County Board of Commissioners was held on Tuesday, December 19, 2023. This was their final meeting of the year 2023. A Pubic Hearing on the 2024 fee schedule was held at 8:45 with no one present for discussion. There were changes made to increase Sunrise Terrace rents with notification having already been made to the tenants of those changes.
Heather Kirchner informed the Board of the purpose and activities of the Treatment Court program. It is an alternative to imprisonment lasting 1824 months under the guidance of laws enforcement and counselors to break the cycle of drug dependency. Program costs are $4300 for each person in comparison to the $40,500 to imprison that same person.
Several tobacco licenses were approved for 2024. These included: Carlson’s Corner, Ruppert Oil, Chandler Co-op (Lake Wilson), Avoca Liquor, Trails Edge, Dollar General and Key Largo. The license is issued only after all necessary paper work has been completed.
The 2024 Ditch levies were set with the costs of repairs assessed to landowners benefiting from each system. There will be no changes to the list of landowners on CD 11 as viewers have ascertained that additional acres are not being drained into it. An issue with the outlet of CD 22 becoming plugged and drowning surrounding crop land will be addressed with changes in the barrier. Swede Campbell had brought the issue before the Board.
Local Homeless Prevention Aid was created in 2021 by the legislature to help local governments ensure no child is homeless within the county by keeping families from losing housing and helping those experiencing homelessness find housing. This is a complicated program to administer. Approval was given to allow UCAP to administer the program funds for Murray County.
A second program, Statewide Affordable Housing Aid was put on hold at this time. It was established to help counties develop and preserve affordable housing to keep families from losing housing and to help those experiencing homelessness find housing. Murray County does not receive adequate funds at $84,000 to construct the new housing that is needed.
The Box Car Wind Project is being established in Lyon and Murray County with 115,00 acres and 450 landowners already committed. The 169-220 turbines will produce $9.2 M in tax revenues over the thirty year lifespan for those counties. There will also be fifteen permanent jobs created.
A Flood Plain Management Services Program was approved to study the issue of flooding of the lakes and the City of Currie. The confluence of Beaver Creek, DesMoines River and Lake Shetek creates a unique situation and one that would benefit from a study by the US Army Corp of Engineers, HSEM, National Weather Service, USGS and the MN DNR. There will five to ten years of data collected before any action will undertaken. The final tax levy was set in action of the Board. Revenue will be increased $346,100 with a 4% increase for a total of $9,001,407 in revenue.
Wages of elected officials were discussed with each person. County Attorney Travis Smith is currently at $94,158.75. County Recorder Karen Brown is currently at $72,003.75 and County Auditor/Treasurer Heidi Winter at $98,698.95. They will each see an increase of 5% in wage in 2024. County Sheriff Heath Landsmann is currently at $100,000. He was granted a 7.5% increase for 2024.
The Commissioners agreed to increase their own wage by 5% from the current $22,050. The per diem wage for attending assigned committee meetings will remain at $100 pr day with $50 set for meal reimbursement for out of town meetings.
The 5% increases were in line with the contract signed with AFSCME (highway workers) union.
The Board’s meeting schedule will remain the same at three per month on the 1st, 3rd and 4th Tuesday. There will be no meeting on December 26,2023.
