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WALKER-Doug Andresen came to the Cass County Board Tuesday to inquire on behalf of the Lake Winnie Area Resort Association about steps that organization would have to take to implement a 3 percent lodging tax for resorts on Lake Winnibigoshish to use to advertise their resorts.

He said 11 resorts in Cass and four in Itasca County would be involved.

The county board was unreceptive to the idea of collecting the tax for the resorts. Cass recently enacted its own transportation sales tax, which the state collects in behalf of the county.

Chief Financial Officer Larry Wolfe informed Andresen there is nothing in state law on lodging taxes that provides a mechanism to enforce collection of a lodging tax.

This leaves open the possibility any member resort could chose not to participate from year to year, he said.

Andresen thanked the board for the information and said he would return to the county if the resort association decides to hold a public hearing to implement a tax.

Cass County Board approved information for the county newsletter to be mailed with property tax statements this spring.

It will cover information about retiring key personnel, the county's new transportation sales tax, state and local election filing and voting dates, highway construction for 2016, sheriff's calls for service, cooperation with Leech Lake Reservation and changes to child protection services.

Auditor-Treasurer Sharon Anderson informed the board state legislators are considering possibly providing 50 to 85 percent funding to help counties replace their voting equipment.

Therefore, she recommended Cass reject bids to buy new machines this year. Instead, she recommended accepting the vendors' offers to carry the county through 2016 with any needed repairs to existing voting machines.

New bids would be sought for new machines once the county knows the extent of state funding, she said. The board approved her recommendation.

Environmental Services Director John Ringle obtained board approval of a draft new version of the county's water plan. The state requires updating a water plan every five to 10 years to qualify for state water grants.

Cass benefits from about $200,000 in water resource improvement grants from the state Board of Soil and Water Resources, Ringle said.

Now that the county board has approved the draft, BWSR will review it and make suggestions before a final draft returns to the county board for adoption in late May or early June, Ringle explained.

Land Commissioner Joshua Stevenson obtained board approval to use state money from the environmental 3/8 cent sales tax to purchase 80 acres from Potlatch. It is adjacent to existing county land in Unorganized Township and will give public road access to the existing county land.

Pat Bundy, county forester, obtained board approval to remove from over-the-counter sales five parcels which have not sold on prior sales. The properties will be reappraised and added to this summer's county land sale. That sale will be at 9 a.m., June 25, at the courthouse in Walker. There will be a total of 21 properties offered.

The county sold 2,532 cords of timber from five county managed or owned tracts at a Feb. 25 auction. Loggers paid $21.29 for aspen and $31.13 for red oak, the two largest tree species types sold.

Cass Health, Human and Veterans Services spent 7.05 percent of the 2016 budget in January or about 1 percent less than expected.

This is in line with spending percentages of budget for out-of-home child placements, but the county increased its budget expectations for those child costs by about $100,000 this year.

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