Dunn County Board approves borrowing $3 million for highway projects, $11 million for geothermal project
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The Dunn County Board has approved borrowing $3 million for 2025 highway projects and $11 million for a geothermal and solar project at the Dunn County Judicial Center.
Both resolutions were approved unanimously at the November 12 Dunn County Board meeting.
During his annual report the county board, Dustin Binder, Dunn County highway commissioner, noted that the Dunn County Highway Department has 51 full-time employees and has 425 miles of roads to maintain.
Dunn County ranks seventh out of the 72 counties in Wisconsin for the number of miles roads maintained by the county, Binder said.
The Dunn County Highway Department has been trying to catch up on repaving roads in order to reduce the lifespan of the roads.
Only a few years ago, the lifespan of county highways in Dunn County was over 50 years, meaning that roads would be repaved once every 50 years or more.
In 2023, Dunn County paved 13.49 miles of roads at a cost of $5 million, Binder said.
The road projects used 38,536 tons of asphalt, and if the county continues to repave 13 miles of road per year, that will bring the road lifespan down to 31.5 years, he said.
The maintenance budget in 2023 used $1.6 million in general transportation aid along with $737,861 in vehicle registration fees. Residents in Dunn County pay $20 annually for a vehicle registration fee, Binder said.
The total maintenance cost was $2,869,983. Maintenance includes plowing snow, road repairs, seal coating, mowing and vegetation control in the road ditches and cutting trees, he said.
Winter maintenance
Binder said he “dreads thinking about winter maintenance costs because of the sheer cost and having nothing to show for it.”
In 2023, Dunn County spent $1.2 million on winter maintenance, he said, noting that the county’s winter maintenance budget goes from January 1 to January 1.
In 2023, the county used 806 tons of rock salt, 8,032 tons of salt/sand and 39,009 gallons of salt brine for winter maintenance, Binder said.
Over the last three years, the cost of salt has increased about $20 per ton.
In 2023, salt cost $81.90 per ton, and in 2022, salt cost $88.40 per ton, while in 2023, the cost of salt was $96.36 per ton, Binder said.
In 2024, the cost of salt is just over $100 per ton, he said.
Each plow route takes three to four hours to complete, although the route will take longer when there is more snow or there is ice involved, Binder said.
The brine is 23.3 percent salt and “works great” at temperatures above freezing and stops working at 15 degrees Fahrenheit, he said.
Binder also reported that in 2023, Dunn County sold all of the county’s crushing equipment.
The county owns quarries, but the crushing equipment was sold due to lack of use and was only being used every other year, he said.
Keeping the crushing equipment was not justifiable, and the work is now outsourced, Binder said.
Geothermal
The $11 million that will be borrowed for the geothermal and solar project at the Dunn County judicial center will be at no additional cost to taxpayers.
According to a recently-completed energy study, Dunn County would save enough money on energy to pay for a new heating-ventilation-air conditioning system at the Dunn County Judicial Center.
The federal government’s Inflation Reduction Act allows tax-exempt and governmental entities to receive elective payments for 12 clean energy tax credits.
In addition, Dunn County will contract with a Qualified Energy Service company that will guarantee an annual energy savings, and the savings will be used to pay off the installation costs so that the cost of the project will not be included on the debt levy paid by taxpayers.
The judicial center was built in 1998, and the HVAC system is based on boilers and chillers.
Full replacement of the existing system would cost $3 million to $6 million, although the system is inefficient.
Veregy LLC completed the energy study. The Dunn County Government Center and the Neighbors of Dunn County both have a geothermal HVAC system, and the recommendation from Veregy is to install geothermal for the judicial center with solar panels to power the system.
The county will spend $11 million on the energy efficient system, is expected to receive $3.7 million in tax credits from the federal government, and will then use the energy savings to pay for the project.
At facilities committee meetings in the past, it has been noted that Dunn County pays much more per year on heating and cooling the judicial center than the county spends on heating and cooling the government center which has a geothermal system.
