Greetings from Le Sueur County
During the month of October, the Le Sueur County Board of Commissioners took action to approve ditch liens on county ditches 6, 29, 46 and 70, so if you own property in those ditch systems you should expect to see an assessment. The Board also approved a contract with Barnett Bros Inc for $320,736 for a peat marsh correction project on County Road 30.
As I mentioned in last month’s column, the final levy and budget will be set at our December 3 meeting. The preliminary levy was set at a 6.8 percent increase, which represents around $1.8 million in additional expenditures. The Board held a budget work session and have tentative plans to lower that amount by using reserves to pay for one-time expenditures, along with making other downward budget adjustments.
The remaining variable for finalizing the 2025 budget will be employee salary and benefit costs, as the County is actively negotiating bargaining unit contracts, which all expire at the end of the year.
In other county news, we were pleased to learn that BevComm was awarded a $1.1 million grant from the State of Minnesota to connect 148 locations in Tyrone Township with high-speed internet. The township share of this cost will be $164,000 which will be paid upfront by the County but paid back to the County by Tyrone Township over 10-years. Following is a map of locations that will be connected.
In separate but related broadband news, the County also continues to work on plans for investing a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to connect 57 homes over 14 fiber route miles covering the bottom of Montgomery Township and the top of Kilkenny Township. Following is a map of the planned broadband development area.
Switching gears, the County is looking for individuals who are willing to serve on our Planning Commission. The Planning Commission is an advisory board to the County Board of Commissioners and is charged with acting on all Conditional Use Permits, Rezones, Ordinance Amendments, and Plats. If you are interested in serving on the Commission, please contact your County Commissioner.
We are also happy to report that building renovations at the Government Center have been completed and the west parking lot is now open. Thanks for everyone’s patience over the last year while we have been making needed updates.