County board to pay for Barnum garage funding through wheelage and sales taxes

The Carlton County board of commissioners voted 3-2 to upgrade the overcrowded Barnum transportation garage and attach a large addition to create a 50,000-plus square-foot facility.

The need for a new facility wasn’t debated — it was how to pay for the $10 million bonding package for the construction that commissioners didn’t agree on. In the end, they compromised and voted to use two funding sources to pay the estimated $600,000 yearly payments on $10 million bond for the upgrade and addition.

Three sources were considered: a property tax increase, a wheelage tax on each vehicle licensed in C...