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WALKER - Cass County has reached the point where not enough money is coming into the county to keep up with costs to maintain the roads, so County Engineer David Enblom has proposed using a state-allowed option for a half a cent county sales tax.

Cass County had about 20 percent of its 400 miles of state aid roads in poor or very poor condition about four years ago, Enblom told the county board Tuesday. That percentage has increased to 27 percent now.

The county has been levying property tax dollars to pay the shortage of state aid highway funding, he reminded the board.

The sales tax would apply to any taxable purchase made in the county, so it would draw from visitors and not just property owners, he said. Projections suggest at least 80 percent of the new tax would come from non-residents, Chief Financial Officer Larry Wolfe said.

Vehicle sales tax is not included, because that is a separate tax from the state's general sales tax.

If the county board chooses to adopt the sales tax, it would enable Cass County to keep up with resurfacing existing paved roads and also is projected to enable the county to pave some of the county gravel roads now being treated with chloride.

Enblom did a cost analysis last winter that showed over the life of asphalt pavement (about 20 to 25 years), it costs less to have a paved road than to maintain gravel roads.

The cost for gravel keeps rising, while the cost for bituminous surfacing is level now that oil prices have dropped, he said.

If enacted, the sales tax is projected to bring Cass County $1,072,131.51 per year.

Tuesday, the board voted to ask Minnesota Department of Transportation to transfer the county's 2017 state aid allocation to the county in 2016, so the county can resurface County State Aid Highway 24 south of Pine River in 2016.

That 12-mile-long project is expected to cost $2,750,000.

Cass commissioners will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m., Dec. 1, on the optional sales tax. That hearing will precede the board's public hearing on the proposed 2016 county budget.

The commissioners expect to adopt a budget and decide whether to adopt the sales tax at the board's regular Dec. 15. Both meetings will be at the courthouse in Walker.

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