{"id":119494,"date":"2026-03-11T19:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T22:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/898802171"},"modified":"2026-03-11T19:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T22:04:16","slug":"stearns-county-pushes-for-tech-upgrades-to-ease-taxpayer-burden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/11\/stearns-county-pushes-for-tech-upgrades-to-ease-taxpayer-burden\/","title":{"rendered":"Stearns County Pushes For Tech Upgrades To Ease Taxpayer Burden"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img data-opt-id=758893364  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/townsquare.media\/site\/67\/files\/2025\/01\/attachment-Minnesota-State-Capitol-Exterior.jpg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural&ssl=1&w=75&resize=75&ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/townsquare.media\/site\/67\/files\/2025\/01\/attachment-Minnesota-State-Capitol-Exterior.jpg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural&ssl=1&w=100&resize=100&ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/townsquare.media\/site\/67\/files\/2025\/01\/attachment-Minnesota-State-Capitol-Exterior.jpg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural&ssl=1&w=150&resize=150&ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/townsquare.media\/site\/67\/files\/2025\/01\/attachment-Minnesota-State-Capitol-Exterior.jpg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural&ssl=1&w=240&resize=240&ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/townsquare.media\/site\/67\/files\/2025\/01\/attachment-Minnesota-State-Capitol-Exterior.jpg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural&ssl=1&w=320&resize=320&ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/townsquare.media\/site\/67\/files\/2025\/01\/attachment-Minnesota-State-Capitol-Exterior.jpg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural&ssl=1&w=500&resize=500&ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/townsquare.media\/site\/67\/files\/2025\/01\/attachment-Minnesota-State-Capitol-Exterior.jpg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural&ssl=1&w=640&resize=640&ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/townsquare.media\/site\/67\/files\/2025\/01\/attachment-Minnesota-State-Capitol-Exterior.jpg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural&ssl=1&w=800&resize=800&ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/townsquare.media\/site\/67\/files\/2025\/01\/attachment-Minnesota-State-Capitol-Exterior.jpg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural&ssl=1&w=1024&resize=1024&ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/townsquare.media\/site\/67\/files\/2025\/01\/attachment-Minnesota-State-Capitol-Exterior.jpg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural&ssl=1&w=1280&resize=1280&ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/townsquare.media\/site\/67\/files\/2025\/01\/attachment-Minnesota-State-Capitol-Exterior.jpg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural&ssl=1&w=1600&resize=1600&ssl=1 1600w\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/townsquare.media\/site\/67\/files\/2025\/01\/attachment-Minnesota-State-Capitol-Exterior.jpg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural&ssl=1\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p>Stearns County is one of many Minnesota counties looking to see a technology upgrade from the State.&nbsp; Stearns County Commissioner Tarryl Clark joined me on WJON.&nbsp; She says counties have had a lot of expenses from the state shifted onto them.&nbsp; Clark says human services have seen the most cost shifts.&nbsp; She says county commissioners have worked hard to keep property taxes down but it&#8217;s challenging when more and more services have been shifted to counties as opposed to the state.<\/p>\n<h3>Old Technology<\/h3>\n<p>The state has not updated their human services computer technology since 1989.&nbsp; Clark says the old technology is costly and more time consuming for county staff.&nbsp; She says there is bipartisan support&nbsp;in the State Legislature to upgrade the technology but it will cost $50 Million just for the necessary fix.&nbsp; Clark is optimistic that this will get done during this legislative session and she believes it will save the county&nbsp;taxpayers&nbsp;money in the long term.<\/p>\n<div class=\"single-post-image \">\n<figure class=\"img-tag has-sizer alignnone\">\n<p><span class=\"visually-hidden\">Quarry Park<\/span><\/p><figcaption>Quarry Park<\/figcaption><div class=\"loadinganim showbox\" id=\"0\">\n<p><title id=\"loading-anim-title\">loading&#8230;<\/title><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Quarry Park<\/h3>\n<p>The Stearns County Quarry Park masterplan open house will take place tonight from 5:30-7:00pm at the Stearns County Service Center in Waite Park.&nbsp; Clark says this will be an opportunity for users to ask questions and offer opinions about the future of Quarry Park and Nature Preserve.<\/p>\n<h3>Town Line Road<\/h3>\n<p>The Sartell Community Center will host a project open house to discuss town line road on St. Patrick&#8217;s Day, Tuesday March 17 from 5-7pm.&nbsp; Clark says the county has been working with the State Legislature to help with funding for what she calls a costly project.&nbsp; This event will allow the public to ask questions about the project.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;d like to listen to my conversation with Tarryl Clark, click below.<\/p>\n<p><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/stcloudpodcasts.ftp.townsquaredigital.com\/Podcasts\/Tarryl%20Clark%203-11-26.mp3\"><\/audio><\/p>\n<p><h2 class=\"photogallery-title\">Come Visit Paynesville, Minnesota in Pictures<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blockads.fivefilters.org\"> <\/a><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/blockads.fivefilters.org\/acceptable.html\"> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8230; counties looking to see a <span class=\"match\">technology<\/span> upgrade from the State.\u00c2\u00a0 Stearns &#8230; opposed to the state. Old <span class=\"match\">Technology<\/span> The state has not updated &#8230; their human services computer <span class=\"match\">technology<\/span> since 1989.\u00c2\u00a0 Clark says &#8230; State Legislature to upgrade the <span class=\"match\">technology<\/span> but it will &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}