The Pope County Board has been meeting in session with department heads at meetings during August and September to review each department’s proposed budget.  

The last of these departmental meetings will take place on September 10, and then the Board will consider adoption of the County preliminary levy and budget for 2025 at its regular meeting on September 17.  

Minnesota law requires the establishment of the County preliminary property tax levy and budget by the end of September.  The preliminary adoption establishes the maximum amount the County property tax levy can be for the coming year, but that levy amount can and often is decreased as the budget is further refined before final adoption.  The final County property tax levy and budget must be adopted by the end of December, and is usually done at the last regular Board meeting in December, which this year would be December 17.

In other business, the county board:

• Approved a resolution amending the Pope County Land Use Controls Ordinance.  The amendments were to clarify and provide additional definitions, clarify requirements in the renewable energy systems and stormwater management sections, remove the outdated erosion control standard section, as well as to clarify various aspects of the administration section of the Land Use Controls Ordinance.

The Planning Advisory Commission did discuss and debate the proposed amendments during regularly scheduled meetings, including on September 28, 2023 and October 26, 2023. 

On October 26, 2023, the PAC did take action to recommend approval of the proposed amendments. 

• Approved a request from the Sauk River Watershed Collaborative adopting the resolution amending the collaborative’s Conservation Reserve Program Incentives Pilot Program Workplan for the current year, 2024.The request concerned amending the workplan to allow for $30,000 in grant funding supports for CCRP enrollment and re-enrollment in CWMP areas, with additional support for certain priority areas within the CWMP territory

• Approved a $2,700 grant of request from the Scandinavian Lake Association from the County’s AIS Prevention Aid fund to help cover the cost of a whole-lake aquatic vegetation survey. According to information at the meeting, this point-intercept survey is a necessary part of developing a Lake Vegetation Management Plan, which will inform their efforts at controlling Eurasian watermilfoil and preventing further AIS infestations. The total cost of the survey will be $3,000. 

LRM staff viewed the request as an appropriate use of the County’s AIS Prevention Aid monies and recommended approval of this request.

Pope County will receive $85,124 from the state in 2024 for AIS Prevention Aid funding. The current balance of the county’s AIS fund is $397,254.98.