BRIDGEPORT—The Morrill County Commissioners settled in Thursday morning, July 30, for what turned out to be a full but familiar agenda at the courthouse.They approved the minutes from earlier July meetings, signed off on claims, and worked through the usual stack of monthly and quarterly reports before turning to the items that drew the most conversation.
One of the longer discussions centered on a new vehicle for Region 21 Emergency Management Director Ron. Neighboring counties had already voted to give up a year of EMPG grant money to help buy a truck. Morrill County had said no to that idea earlier. Ron came in with a different plan: an eight-year lease-purchase on a threequarter- ton Chevy. After trading in the current Suburban for $18,000, the truck would run about $36,800, with yearly payments somewhere near $7,000 split among the five counties. Morrill’s share would land around $2,500 a year—a number the board found far easier to swallow than the $11,000-plus hit from giving up the grant. Commissioners gave a clear thumbs-up to the lease approach and asked Ron to bring final numbers to the next meeting.
County Assessor John Erickson handled Board of Equalization business, getting approval for a late homestead exemption that still met the one-time rule. He also reported that fire and flood-related reductions on roughly 140 parcels trimmed overall county valuations by about 1 percent or less. Morrill was the only county that adjusted fire-damaged land values, not just buildings. Final county- wide numbers are still a few weeks out.
