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With maybe a half-dozen citizens in the audience for last week’s county taxation hearing, the County Board voted 5-0 to adopt a levy hike for 2025 of 5.7 percent.  Board Chair Marlys Dunne said the number is not what she’d hoped for,  but in the process of scrutinizing next year’s budget commissioners went “line-by-line” and this was the best result.  

The county has had to deal with cost hikes for insurance (both property and health) and there’s been a million dollars added for road projects for 2025.  The Chair said hiring was frozen where possible, but some positions are necessary and also generate outside revenues.  

Chisago County has 7.1 employees per 1,000 residents which falls in the mid-range of comparable counties.  Washington,  Dakota and Wright are 5.2, 4.7 and 5.7 respectively.  Pine County is at 10 staff per capita and Isanti is at 7.5.  

When Chisago County is staffed-up for its busy seasons, there will be 450 on the payroll.  There are 55 officers alone in the sheriff’s department and with jail staff and others, the department has 127 positions.  Health & Human Services fills 132 posts.  Road & Bridge is the third main piece of pie on the budget pie chart.

The county will cover close to half of its $91 million budget with local levy.  The rest comes from program aid, permit revenue, grants, a wheelage fee of $10 per vehicle when you register your car, and half-penny local sales tax.

In public comment, citizen Jim McCarthy asked the Board if there is a plan B to respond if the federal government cuts off fiscal help, as has been promised under the new President’s administration.  In particular the local highway system is dependent on getting targeted transportation monies from federal and state sources.  Has the County Board done a “risk assessment” for how to respond to possible loss of funding, he asked.

Auditor-Treasurer Bridgitte Konrad said the tool most useful to respond to fluctuations in expected revenue is to maintain healthy balances.   She added, the debt load has also been apportioned out over the next several years  avoiding “peaks and valleys” that impact what the taxpayer has to deal with.

Chisago County annually spends about $4 million on debt service. For 2025 there is $25.9 million owed.

Some big ticket projects yet to be paid off include the public safety center/jail 2016 and 2017, the Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response (2015), consisting of towers, radio support, computers, etc.  and (2022) roads.  The county has paid off funds borrowed for building branch libraries.

The Lake Improvement District levy, which applies only to parcels within the district, is getting a levy bump of 7.78 percent. This is due to work planned on the lake lowering system to be paid in 2026.

The commissioners also set the local ditch levies, up by 10 percent.  These taxes are only charged to property owners along specific county ditches that benefit from the stormwater management.

Konrad noted the ditch accounts need a boost in anticipation of upcoming repairs and maintenance.  Staff has been getting calls related to the system and its poor functionality in certain spots and work is only paid for out of the specific ditch levy.

Other specialized allocations are: the Ag Society for the County Fair, of $16,000, the Historical Society gets $40,000, the U of MN Extension program $179,761, and Soil & Water Conservation District gets $837,927.

In public comment, citizen Deb Hall asked if county department heads are incentivized to reduce their spending.  

Board Chair Dunne said the department heads present their needs starting around early summer, and talks go from there.  Contract negotiations are complicated having several different unions operating in the county and there are multi-year contracts. There are legally required services the county must provide that are not discretionary.  The county has done a compensation study and adjusted wages accordingly.  Dunne said a few empty positions are not being filled where possible.

Chisago County has a AA-plus bond rating and strong fiscal position, the public was advised.

Informational materials provided at the hearing show Chisago County ranks in the middle of Minnesota counties (#40) on per capita tax collections at $860.  Statewide the per capita median is $727;  but ranges from $373 per capita in Dakota County to $2,376 in the sparsely populated county of Cook.

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