A report released by the Sherburne County Auditor-Treasurer’s Dept. last month shows the county received $441,285 in township road allotment funds from the state for 2024. That represents an 18.57% increase from the year before.

Road allotment funds are distributed to each township in the county. They must be used for the purpose of construction, reconstruction and gravel maintenance on town roads within the township. The formula for calculating the amount is based on the percentage of road miles and population. That formula started in 2012.

Big Lake Twp. continues to get the biggest allotment by having the most road miles (82.75) and the largest population (8,007). The township received $78,703.18 for 2024.

Baldwin Twp. is next with $71,907.40 based on road mileage of 78.91 miles and a population of 7,030.

Next is Livonia Twp. ($66,325.13) based on 74.13 road miles and a population of 6,352, followed by Becker Twp. at $60,919.39 with 70.78 road miles and a population of 5,627.

None of the remaining six townships received more than $41,000 for 2024.

They are: Orrock Twp. at $40,509.97 (46.71 miles, 3,770 people); Palmer Twp. at $27,006.74 (30.09, 2,603); Haven Twp. at $26,587 (29.46, 2,576); Blue Hill Twp. at $25,351 (25.53, 2,672); Clear Lake Twp. at $22,770.31 (31.46, 1,677) and Santiago Twp. at $21,203.74 (25.34, 1,896).

Gravel Tax

The county also distributed the gravel tax for 2024. Each year the county collects taxes from companies that mine gravel in the county. Taxes are collected based on total tonnage or yards of gravel mined. A portion of  those  taxes is distributed to the jurisdiction where the gravel was mined.

Some of the tax goes into the county’s road and bridge fund. There is also 5% administration fee, and an allocation to the county’s Gravel Tax Reserve fund. That fund is used for the restoration of abandoned, pits, quarries or deposits located within the county. If there are no abandoned, pits, quarries or deposits the tax is used for any other unmet reclamation need or for conservation or other environmental needs.

The county collected  $544,482.81 in gravel tax for 2024. Of that amount $219,834.96 was distributed as follows: Elk River ($168,050.09); Haven Twp. ($32,925.31); Livonia Twp. ($18,467.70); Big Lake Twp. ($347.97); Becker. Twp. ($44.19).

The administration fee was $27,224.05 and $77,588.84 went into the county’s Gravel Tax Reserve Fund, which now stands at $1,503,163.44.