ST. PAUL – Legislation Rep. Dale Lueck, R-Aitkin authored allowing Aitkin County to create a consolidated account road and bridge account for the 13 unorganized townships within the county received final House approval Saturday in the final days of the 2020 session.
Lueck’s proposal was included in a larger transportation package (H.F. 462). The House approved the bill 131-2 and it was forwarded to the governor for his signature. The Senate had passed the bill 67-0.
“I am pleased we finally got this change that allows Aitkin County to streamline management of these very important local road and bridge dollars,” Lueck said. “Our neighbor to the north, St. Louis County, for many years has had the same statutory authorization. It has proven to work very well.”
Previous to this change, Aitkin County was required to maintain 13 separate unorganized township road and bridge accounts to carry out maintenance on these roads. This resulted in unnecessary red tape and caused stockpiling of funds or borrowing funds from other accounts to execute needed repairs.
Lueck said this does not change the county board’s process for levying road and bridge funds within the unorganized townships, rather it simply allows for a consolidated approach in maintaining the funds for maintenance of unorganized township roads by Aitkin County.
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