The Mower County Board of Commissioners handled one controversial topic well recently by seeking an abundance of public feedback, and it’s time commissioners use the same technique for another hot topic.

A half-cent sales tax to fund road projects is already on the county board’s mind. The topic has come up during at least three board meetings in the last month, and county officials say roads have been a hot topic for many rural residents, drawing countless phone calls and discussions on road conditions.

The county has limited courses of action for addressing road and maintenance, as County Coordinator Craig Oscarson pointed out to a group of rural residents at Tuesday’s board meeting: It can stand pat and wait on the state for funding, it can budget more Public Works funds for roads through the tax levy or it can approve half-cent sales tax.

Though talks thus far have been conversational, it appears the board will eventually debate the half-cent sales tax. When it does, we encourage the board to use the same approach it did with the single-sort recycling discussions.

The board handled those discussions right by engaging the public through numerous phone calls, emails and a public survey on Surveymonkey.com. Whether you agree with the board’s decision to ultimately keep it’s sorted recycling program, the county should be commended for engaging the public. Likewise, the public deserves credit for voicing opinions.

If it worked on recycling, chances are a similar process would work on roads. Just as many people, if not more, likely share concerns about roads and bridges.

The county is in a difficult spot with roads and commissioners have been hesitant to even discuss the half-cent sales tax since the Legislature gave counties the option to enact the tax in 2013. When the 2015 Minnesota Legislature failed to address transportation funding after naming it one of the key issues of this year’s legislative session, which has drawn repeated criticism from county board members.

That state’s failure to address roads put further pressure on counties to discuss road funding. As commissioners have noted, the state passed the buck.

Mower is far from alone in facing this issue. Counties across the state have faced similar transportation funding shortages, and many regional counties, including Freeborn last month, have approved the half-cent sales tax.

As Public Works Director Mike Hanson recently told the board, there’s a need in Mower County. The money could theoretically be used just on county bridges. Hanson told the board it would take about $15 million to replace 25 deficient county bridges, which doesn’t even include the roughly $4.6 million it would take to replace 34 deficient township bridges.

“You have enough projects on county bridges right now — not townships — to run a sales tax for 10 years without doing anything to the roads,” Hanson told the board in August.

Despite obvious apprehensions concerning a new tax, it’s time for the county to at least thoroughly discuss the issue. The public needs to have a significant role in those discussions.

While the board deserves credit for seeking public feedback on recycling, it only worked because the public was engaged in voicing opinions. That needs to happen again with transportation.

 Vote now: What’s the county’s best course of action for roads funding?

•The county should consider a half-cent sales tax.

•The county should consider a levy increase.

•It’s a state issue; push for more state funding.

•The county should take no new action.

Vote at www.austindailyherald.com/?p=649510