By ADAM STEWART

News editor

Cattle getting loose between Hillsboro and Peabody have become such a recurring problem that Marion County Commission intends to enact fines for frequent offenders.

Sheriff Rob Craft said Thursday that his department had responded to 40 calls about cattle being loose in the area between Hillsboro and Peabody during 2012.

Safety is his biggest concern in wanting to put a stop to cattle getting loose. Hitting a cow with a car is generally much more damaging than hitting a deer and much more likely to lead to injuries.

County Attorney Susan Robson said she had researched what other counties do about cattle that get loose. Some fine repeat violators, with fines escalating for additional violations. Commissioner Roger Fleming said he would want any fine to be enough that it would be cheaper for someone to fix their fence than pay multiple fines.

The county could also require owners to pay the cost of recapturing and penning cattle on the loose.

The commission asked Craft and Robson to draft a plan.

County will publish notices in 3 newspapers

The commission voted to publish all of the county’s legal notices for the remainder of 2013 in the Marion County Record, Hillsboro Star-Journal, and Peabody Gazette-Bulletin.

The Record is the county’s official newspaper for legal publications. Hoch Publishing Company, owner of the newspapers, offered an 83-percent discount to publish in the other two newspapers as a way to increase dissemination of the information.

In other business:

• Holub noted that a bill had been reintroduced in the state legislature that would exempt a wide variety of industrial equipment from property taxes. The bill is sponsored by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce.
• Robson will send a notice to people with delinquent 2008 property taxes that the county will begin work on a tax sale this year. There are about 40 properties with delinquent taxes from 2008 totaling about $73,000.
• Robson will draft a resolution offering a reward of up to $500 for information leading to successful prosecution of people who dump garbage in county ditches or damage traffic signs.
• Cardie Oil Inc. of Tampa will supply 6,550 gallons of fuel to Road and Bridge Department for $21,232. Cooperative Grain & Supply of Hillsboro bid $22,368.
• The sales tax report from the State of Kansas for November sales showed approximately triple the usual sales tax receipts — $165,987 for general county sales tax and $147,204 for the jail sales tax, up from $53,695 and $47,682, respectively, for the same month in 2011. County Treasurer Jeannine Bateman said she would look into the unusually high amount.