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The citizens attending the Sunrise Township annual meeting March 11 voted to reactivate a $100,000 property tax collection that had lapsed and was not levied for this year’s taxes.

This fund is dedicated to blacktop surfaces that are either being installed new, or being redone.    There was a brief discussion about increasing the prior $100,000 that had been collected to $200,000 because of inflation related to improving roads;  but Supervisor Pete Johnson joked that the Board would be run out of town with a doubling of this levy.

The blacktop account can only be expended after two township meetings where public comment will be invited on road projects and the actual appropriation (anything over $100,000 on a single project) will take place with citizen approval, at an annual township meeting.

The regular township levy for 2026 was approved at $563,258.  

The meeting was the first time many of the 20 or so residents in attendance had been inside the new Sunrise Township Hall.  The Board recognized member Greg Strom for his oversight and acumen in bringing the township hall in under-budget.  Strom stressed it was a “building committee” group effort.  Township maintenance crew members Troy, Steve and Dave were also involved in the new hall project and were applauded.

The budget set for the new building etc. was $526,000. The total cost reported was $435,269.  Leftover funds will be utilized to finish the parking lot, do some sitework and whatever the town supervisors deem the best use of the money.

This was Supervisor Jeske Noordergraaf’s final meeting, as she did not seek re-election.  Phillip Mears was on the ballot and took all the 37 votes that were cast.  The number of registered voters in Sunrise Township is more like 1,548, the staff announced.  Mears won a three-year term. Supervisor Mark Osland was absent last week.

The next year levy is up by about six percent.  

According to Treasurer Karen Anderson the “driver” behind this increase is preparing to contribute to the new fire rig that Almelund is paying off.  The share over the next several years being attributed to Sunrise residents is based on fire department calls and market valuation of township parcels in the service area and is about $33,000 annually.

Revenues from the township share of solar production tax came to about $20,000 each of the past couple years and the distribution is expected to be stable for next year.

The local “gravel tax” collected on tonnage of aggregate transported out of the township is only amounting to several hundred dollars a year in revenues.

Citizens voted to authorize $4,000 total to be distributed out of the general fund by the supervisors, among charitable operations requesting contributions.  These are normally organizations such as Viking Vittles, a take home food supply for North Branch school district school kids, Chisago Age Well Coalition, Family Pathways, Sunrise Cemetery Association, County Ag Society (county fair) Historical Society.

Gopher bounty was left at $4 for those redeeming front-pairs of paws, but  the citizens heard the line item grew to $5,000 in 2026.  The township had a busy bounty year last year and paid out $5,000 and had only budgeted $2,000.

County Commissioner Dan Dahlberg gave a report.  

The county roadwork plan for 2025 is not really impacting any routes in Sunrise Township.  Countywide budgeting may become difficult depending on what the state legislature enacts in program cuts that may have to be covered by county money.

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