Farm to market, county road mills set to expire in '25

The Farm to Market and County Road Funds will expire in 2025, so now is the time to get them on the ballot for the next 10 years.

This is the information the Foster County Commission received at their meeting last week.

During the meeting held on Tuesday, July 19, Commissioner Becky Hagel told the board it is necessary to get these on the ballot for the general election in November so the money for road maintenance and repair does not come out of the general fund.

The Farm to Market Fund was voted in for 10 years in 2014. It is 10 mills, and will expire at the end of 2024. The County Road Fund is two mills, and will also expire at the end of 2024.

Foster County Auditor Ellen Roundy told the board that currently, one mill is $30,722.25.

This discussion came about when Joe Voglewede, Roger Schlotman and Alison Schumann attended the meeting to ask for more funding for the Foster County Historical Society.

They are asking the board for an extra $5,000 annually for the historical society.

Currently, FCHS receives one-quarter of a mill to help with expenses. The one-quarter of a mill that the society gets is worth $8,000.

Hagel said they can put the question of raising the mills of the historical society on the November ballot, but are concerned that adding too many items on the ballot along with the County Road Fund and the Farm to Market Fund would cause all of them to fail by the voters.

The discussion was tabled and will be discussed at the budget meeting.

In other business:

• Representatives of Garney Construction, the construction company that is working on the Red River Valley Water Supply Project pipeline, attended the meeting to ask a few questions.

Last fall, Garrison Diversion agreed to cut Bordulac Road open to lay the pipeline instead of boring through it to save money. They agreed to do the cutting of Bordulac Road in June or July of this year and that part of the project would take five to seven days.

At the meeting Garney Construction asked if they could do the cutting of the road in mid September of this year.

The commission said absolutely not. That is during harvest and the road needs to be open at that time.

Garney Construction representatives said due to material delays they just got the pipeline they were waiting for.

They then agreed to work up to Bordulac Road and jump over it continuing to lay the pipeline. They also agreed to cut through Bordulac Road next June or July.

• Another problem the county is having with Garney Construction is that the truck drivers hauling the pipe are not using the designated haul routes within the county.

The board learned that the truck drivers are using Bordulac Road, which could create a lot of repair and maintenance after the contruction is completed.

• Finally, Hagel said she found out that they cannot use Nexus to be the emergency manager due to conflict of interest as Nexus contracts with emergency managers for various things.

The board agreed to advertise for an emergency manager.