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The County Board okayed a levy with  a proposed  hike of 3.3 percent for next year, with Commissioner Lora Walker opposed saying she is wanting to see more in Contingency.  County Auditor Dennis Freed tried to assure the Board the county is solid in its fund balances should there be any emergency needs. “Right now I very comfortable” with contingency at $90,000, Freed said.

The final levy gets set in December so there’s potential to decrease the levy, but the sum set last week at $33,528,602 can not be increased

County Administrator Bruce Messelt said Chisago County has utilized such fiscal restraint that over the years that the taxpayer has seen only two years where there’s been a hike and five years of zero increases. Overall-- the increase per year over several years averages out to about one percent.

Chisago County has a $63 million balanced budget and  in this coming year there will be $1.2 million additional for road construction generated from the local option sales tax and another $500,000 collected from the wheelage tax, to pay for road maintenance needs.  

Commissioner Walker argued these newly-adopted tax revenues should just be part of the property tax, and questioned why the Board doesn’t just roll these into the levy and not pretend they aren’t a tax.

Commissioner Rick Greene pointed out that much of the sales tax is paid by visitors and people who don’t live in the county.  He said when Chisago residents shop in Washington County, they are funding road work there through that local sales tax.  And, the wheelage tax is more accurately described as a user-fee.  If you don’t register a vehicle in Chisago County you don’t pay it.  The local property tax levy would raise significantly to collect the same amount as these do.

County Administrator Messelt also praised county engineering, environmental services  and Soil and Water Conservation District staff as examples for leveraging outside monies for the county to accomplish needed tasks and projects.  The HSIP or Highway Safety Improvement Projects funds and federal water quality programs especially, are very important tools here and keep the county pro-active.

One line item the county had little control over is courts.  Messelt said the county share of courts is “blowing up” and in 2017 Chisago is looking at an additional $35,000 in this department.
The employee health plans also went up nine percent.

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