MARSHALL – After a gap of several years, Lyon County residents will be able to apply for a U.S. passport at the county government center again.

At their regular meeting Tuesday, members of the Lyon County Board voted in favor of applying for the government center to become a passport application facility.

The Lyon County Recorder’s Office stopped processing passport applications in 2011, after new rules from the U.S. State Department took effect. The regulations said passports couldn’t be processed in the same department that issues birth certificates or driver’s licenses. Currently, the Marshall Post Office handles passport applications.

With the new renovations at the government center, the Lyon County administration office would have separate space to offer passport services again, said County Administrator Loren Stomberg. The only concern would be the need to have staff available for regular hours of service. The administration office could offer passport services by appointment, or hire a part-time employee to be available for passport applications, he said.

Lyon County would receive revenue for processing applications. Stomberg said the commission is set to increase next year, from $25 per passport application to $35 per application. Back when the county stopped offering passport services, it was accepting around 1,000 applications a year, he said.

“It was on an upward trend,” Stomberg said.

Commissioners didn’t all agree on bringing passport services back to the government center.

“I think it’s a good thing for the county to have,” said Commissioner Rodney Stensrud. Being able to go to a dedicated passport service could be more convenient than going to the post office, he said.

“I’m not in favor of hiring more people and taking business from the Postal Service,” especially if they were picking up extra work created by the county’s actions six years ago, Commissioner Steve Ritter said.

“We didn’t give it up because we wanted to,” Stensrud replied.

Ritter moved that the county not apply to become a passport application acceptance facility again. The motion failed 3-2, with commissioners Stensrud, Rick Anderson, and Charlie Sanow voting against it.

A motion to apply to become a passport application acceptance facility and to hire and train a part-time employee passed along the same lines.

In spite of the prospect of hiring a new employee in the county administration department, the 2017 county levy could still be lower than anticipated, Stomberg said.

During discussion of the 2017 county budget and levy, Stomberg said the county could make some budget cuts, including in county contingency funds, that would result in a lower levy increase. The increase could be about 1.99 percent instead of the 2.98 percent preliminary levy increase commissioners approved in September.

Commissioners said the county could bring this up in discussion with taxpayers at the county’s Truth in Taxation hearing on Dec. 8. The county can’t take action to set a final budget and levy until after the hearing, Stomberg said.

Proceeds from a county wheelage tax that went into effect this year made it possible to put stripes on an extra 3.5 miles of road in Lyon County, Lyon County Engineer Aaron VanMoer said.

VanMoer pointed out the use of wheelage tax funds at Tuesday’s meeting when he requested county commissioners approve a final payment to Traffic Marking Service, Inc., for striping on county highways. The bid price for striping came to $51,314, and VanMoer said he added 3.5 miles of striping on Lyon County Road 33, bringing the total cost to $59,508. The additional striping would be paid for using wheelage tax money, he said.

County Road 33 receives a lot of traffic, and replacing the stripes on the roadway there would be particularly useful, VanMoer said. Commissioners approved the payment to Traffic Marking Service.

VanMoer estimated that Lyon County will have collected a total of about $245,000 in wheelage tax by the end of the year. The tax collects $10 for each vehicle registered in Lyon County. Proceeds from the tax are to be used for county highway maintenance.

VanMoer also updated commissioners on the list of deficient bridges in Lyon County. The list included 11 bridges, all eligible to receive state bridge bond funds for replacement, VanMoer said.

VanMoer said the list of bridges was ranked in the order they were proposed to be replaced, although that wasn’t necessarily a reflection of the bridges’ condition. At the top of the list – scheduled to be replaced in 2016 and 2017 – were bridges on County Road 83; three bridges in Grandview Township, on 330th Street, 190th Avenue, and 120th Street; a bridge on 120th Street in Rock Lake Township; and a bridge on County Road 11 south of County Road 2.

“We try to keep all these bridges shovel-ready,” in case funding becomes available to replace them, he said.

VanMoer said the bridge on County Road 11 was moved up in priority because other construction is scheduled on that road in 2017 and 2018. The concrete bridge isn’t so much structurally deficient as it is too narrow, he said. It will likely be replaced with box culverts.