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BACKUS-Cass County now is looking at a 3.51 percent levy increase for 2017, down from the 4.9 percent higher preliminary levy the county board approved in September.

The lower increase was made possible by the receipt of more grants for 2017 than originally confirmed, the wage savings for some offices sitting vacant for a time during employee turnover and some financial support from Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.

After seeing transportation sales tax receipts meet expectations in 2016, the citizen budget committee and County Engineer David Enblom also have recommended lowering the amount of property tax levy needed for highway projects in 2017.

The Cass Auditor-Treasurer Office will internally prepare the audit draft for the state to finalize, saving some auditing costs and will postpone the purchase of one new computer in 2017.

Cass County's 2016 levy is $21,029,026. The 2017 preliminary levy was set to meet a state deadline in September at $22,059,545. The budget committee recommendation and amount the county board expects to consider setting as a final levy in December will be $21,766,554.

The board will host a public hearing on the proposed final levy at 6 p.m. Dec. 8 at the courthouse in Walker before considering adopting the final levy at the 9 a.m. regular board meeting Dec. 20 at the courthouse in Walker.

Tuesday, the county board approved a new county building area parking plan. It is designed to make parking spaces closest to the courthouse, law enforcement center and health, human and veterans services building open for visitors to county government buildings in Walker.

Employees will be prohibited from using on-street parking spaces abutting the courthouse complex or health, human and veterans services buildings on Highway 371 or Fourth Street or the parking lots in the same block as the courthouse, court and law enforcement center buildings.

Visitors, however, may use not only those spaces, which are closest to the buildings, but also may use the large parking lot south of the courthouse complex where employees are told to park and on-street parking anywhere close to the courthouse.

Any employee parking in a space designated for visitors will be subject to employee disciplinary action, Personnel Director Joshua Stevenson said.

Second publication rights after Brainerd Dispatch.[[In-content Ad]]

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