December 16, 2022 at 12:32 p.m.
County Board adopts greatly reduced levy
Commissioner Ben Montzka remarked that he was prepared to “eat crow” for stating the Board “never” decreases the maximum levy amounts set in the fall. This is the first time he could recall when the preliminary levy numbers had decreased. The Board has implemented zero levy change in prior years but has not traditionally made a downward adjustment mid-stream.
Chase Burnham, County Administrator, told the Press he congratulates the Board for chipping away at expenses, using fund balance where possible, for finding internal requests that could wait (equipment, furnishings) and for not filling certain vacant positions. The county’s external partners (Historical Society, County Fair, etc) were untouched.
Commissioner Marlys Dunne said she was “proud” to have been able to contribute to whittling the proposed levy hike to 2.9 percent. When elected a couple years ago a priority was to learn where county budget dollars are spent. She told citizens attending the levy hearing last week that Chisago County needs to be “market-competitive’ to attract and retain good staff, and there are areas she won’t compromise on like public safety.
“I will continue fighting for you,” she stated.
Commissioner Chris DuBose, working his final days due to redistricting and re-election defeat — said the commissioners are truly working to keep “a good level of service” for residents while going through department budgets line-by-line for efficiencies.
Those attending the public hearing were speaking reacting to statistics and estimates printed on their tax notices, so many citizens blasted what had been the nearly seven percent levy hike projected on the notices.
For pay-2023 property tax Chisago County also is working under assumptions of 20- percent or more property valuation increases. Market valuation independently impacts property tax as part of the formula.
The hearing last week is held annually to talk about the county budget, but clearly it was property valuations and the cumulative effect of budgets of multiple jurisdictions that had people upset.
School district tax hikes, for example, are calculated using a formula created by the state.
Leaders for the city or township where the parcel sits also figure out what is needed for revenues and there’s a tax line for that.
One single property tax notice covers all these items that go into a property tax. The county delivers the comprehensive information and eventually collects the payments; and it disperses everybody’s amounts twice per year. The county is not responsible for those individual budgets.
Counties also end up holding the bag for services they are mandated to provide but funding is insufficient.
Commissioner Montzka asked the citizens to communicate with state lawmakers about stopping un-funded mandates.
There has also been a shift in the burden carried by categories of properties, like commercial, industrial versus residential, ag and non-homestead. County commercial valuations have not escalated at the same rate as homes, it was explained. As formulas change to benefit business creation and retention, other properties pickup the slack.
Commissioner Dunne asked the audience members to tell Chisago County’s state legislators the counties need some of the billions projected as surplus.
Commissioner Montzka added that the state property tax formulas themselves need revision, and the county needs to be relieved of a “heavy weight” the current process results in.
Commissioner DuBose added the state production tax formula assessed on solar array electric power output also needs another look.
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