The Polk County Commissioners reviewed the 2018 Annual Aggregate Material Tax Report, or the taxes for gravel and sand pits, during their meeting on Tuesday. Haulers and townships submit a report regarding amount hauled from active pits to determine what the tax amount will be explained Michelle Cote, Director of Property Records. “We report annually about the aggregate, the gravel tax, that we collect,” said Cote. “We send out information to haulers and townships that have pits. The haulers tell us how much they’ve hauled out and the townships or cities tell us how many active pits they have. We correlate the information and then the haulers pay tax on the specific amounts of what they have mined.”
The tax collected is split between a fund for the maintenance, construction, and reconstruction of the county’s roads and bridges; the general fund of the township or city in which the mine is located for their roads and bridge; and a special reserve fund for the restoration of abandoned or closed pits. “The annual report reflects how we distribute that money back out,” said Cote. “We are allowed to keep 5 percent as an administrative fee. Forty-two and a half go into our road and bridge fund. Another forty-two and a half goes back to the townships and fifteen percent goes into a restoration fund.”
The commissioners also reviewed and approved tax abatements for homestead and local option requests for totaling $4,032. They were also given for review a proposed abatement policy. Cote said the policy would parameters that would only require the board to approve certain abatements in the future. “Typically we bring all of those abatements to the board,” said Cote. “The abatement policy sets some parameters that would allow us as staff to do the approval and processing of them and free what comes to [the board] for less of the mundane things. The proposed policy does have a $2,000 cap meaning those in excess of $2,000 would come to the board.”
Five county businesses – Lake View Resort Inc., Joe DiMaggio’s Grill and Bar Inc., Snow Sled Inn Bar and Grill/Deonne Maygra, One N’ Only of Euclid Inc., and Union Lake Sarah Campground – submitted their applications and payments for their annual liquor license. The board approved those licenses pending review by the County Sheriff and County Attorney explained Cote. “Anything within a municipality is governed by their own liquor ordinance,” said Cote. “The ones like today are typically not in a municipality. Their license runs from June 4 of each year to June 4 of the following year. They provide us with a multitude of documents from proof of liquor liability, proof of workman’s comp, restaurant licenses. They supply all that information to use in addition to a renewal application and the fees. They then go to our County Attorney for approval and then the County Sheriff for approval and then land back here. Our approvals today were conditional on the approval of the attorney and the sheriff.”
An updated Bridge Replacement Priority List was approved by resolution. The bridges at the top of the list for replacement or rehabilitation were three on County State Aid Highway 1, and one each in Andover, Fanny and Liberty Townships. A resolution was passed confirming the retirement of James Goldsmith as a Maintenance Man for the Polk County Highway Department effective June 1 and thanking him for his 39 years of service. Polk County Administrator Chuck Whiting told the board and media he wouldn’t answer any questions on his last topic before informing the board that the county’s social works had voted to unionize.
