gaylordhub.com

Sibley County Commissioners, Tuesday, set the terms for a 10-year ditch loan at 5 1/2% interest rate. The rate was set for Roger Harbarth of rural Gaylord, who owes his share of fees for a petition he signed for an improvement on County Ditch 61 that never took place.

Harbarth, at a meeting October 9 with County Auditor Lisa Pfarr and Assistant Auditor Gary Kloempken, verbally agreed to an annual payment schedule term of 20 years without interest. County Commissioners, however, did not agree to these terms Tuesday.

County Board chairman Harold Pettis said that Harbarth was in attendance at the Oct. 9 board meeting, and heard that the commissioners did not want to go beyond the 10 year period.

Pfarr said that Harbarth was adamant and wouldn’t budge from the 20 year period. “If you (the county board) is not satisfied, you gentlemen will need to step in. We understand there are unsatisfactory responses on both sides. 20 years is longer than the petition itself,” Pfarr said.

Commissioner Charlie Woehler said that he has a “real problem” with 20 years and no interest. It states in the ditch law that when a petition is signed, you have to pay, he explained. “When the project goes through, everyone pays,” he said. He also noted that the county can’t go back and tell people who are opposed to drainage system improvements, that they don’t have to pay, if they’re part of the system.

Harbarth, along with Walter Grimm and Darrel Frauendienst, were the petitioners for an improvement of an outlet on County Ditch 61, Altnow Lake, filed on Aug. 7, 1996. The petition was dismissed on March 27, 2007 by the county board.

Expenditures of the ditch proceeding up to $36,500, the bond amount, were divided assessed against the petitioners. The remainder of the expenditures for the ditch proceedings, totaling $7,389.17, were paid from the Sibley County general revenue fund.

According to Auditor Lisa Pfarr, past due notices were sent to the petitioners on June 18 and August 21. In the August letter, it was noted that if payment was not received within 15 days, the matter would be forwarded to the Sibley County Attorney’s office for collection.

On Sept. 14, 2007, the petitioners met with the County Attorney, County Auditor and Assistant County Auditor, and the Environmental Services Director. The petitioners were given three options: 1. Pay total bill before Nov. 30, 2007. 2. Agree to a payment schedule not in excess of five years, no interest. Pfarr said that the “not in excess of five years” was only discussion held between the Assistant County Auditor and Auditor. 3. If the petitioner does not take options one or two, the county board will set the time period and interest rate to be charged on their property taxes.

Grimm and Frauendienst paid their bills for their shares of the ditch project in September and October.

Pfarr said that there has been, on occasion, short term, interest-free loans issued through her department in order to get an old account cleared up. The last one, she said, took about one year.

The County Attorney’s Office will be drafting correspondence to Harbarth regarding the County Board’s decision.