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The Lakes Area Police department’s budget is proposed to need an increase of $174,000 in operating and non-operational expenses for 2025.  If the city councils adopt the budget as-is, taxpayers residing in  Lindstrom and Chisago City would be covering an approximate $79,000 each with additional revenues coming in through non-property tax sources.  

According to the financial information shared with the police commission the salaries, workers’ compensation and insurance increases amount to a 6.5 percent hike and the rest of an overall 8.8 percent increase,  is for the new line item the commission built into the budget for independent facility costs.

Currently the Lakes Area Police are housed in shared buildings with Lindstrom City Hall as the main headquarters and a branch office at Chisago City Hall.  The goal for the department was a new stand alone public safety center where vehicle storage and other expanded spaces would be co-located.  To prep for future costs of owning and operating a separate facility the commission directed budgeting efforts to put in $40,000 annually as a “placeholder’ starting 2025.   

The stand alone facility was not funded when the legislature declined to act on (see story last week) a state bonding request, however, the $40,000 remains in the budget for next year.

After this police commission meeting the Lindstrom City Council called an emergency session (Tuesday night this week) to discuss facilities planning.  

We’ll have a follow-up on the police discussion later. 

Police commission members schedule the budget for adoption by sometime in July,  so they can pass it on to the city councils.  If everybody agrees, the budget is incorporated into the city levies adopted in September.  

The Chisago Lakes School District is also part of the law enforcement budget puzzle, covering several months of the School Resource Officers’ costs.  This is accounted for in the LAPD Youth Intervention Fund budget which has gone from $170,208 in 2024 for two officers expenses that are Lakes Area’s obligation to $176,738 for 2025. 

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