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Budget woes continue to vex the North Branch City Council.  The preliminary tax statements were recently mailed out by Chisago County – based on existing early maximums set in September – and the North Branch 2025 hike is showing up as close to 30 percent.  Council member Kelly Nieder made it crystal clear at last week’s budgeting session she is “really struggling with this.”

Neider continued, stating one place to start is reducing the police budget. She opposes the council’s early agreement on the addition of police personnel (even though the 2025 budget amount is bringing the department to just two more than North Branch was staffed at in 2007.)  She also said she would support two squad cars, but not four as requested.  

She declared the approximately $260 per person the police are costing in North Branch was excessive.  The department is requesting a $2.8 million budget for 2025 spread over 11,000 population.

Chief Meyer responded that North Branch anticipates “calls for service” to reach 16,000 this year.  

There also is an officer working as a School Resource Officer,  whose wages are shared by the school district, but hours in the early part of the day are reserved.

And, law enforcement vehicles need to get onto a regular replacement rotation, as they don’t generate any revenue when auctioned off.  

Neider argued the taxable value of her home is slated for a slight decrease in 2025 yet her taxes under the preliminary levy will go up, saying it doesn’t make sense.

As for Public Works she also spoke in favor of eliminating the two employees proposed for that department.

Shawn Williams, Public Works Director, said most cities the size of North Branch have 20 on staff and he has 12.  North Branch has a lot of rural type road miles that still need plowing, etc.  The addition of two part time staff will also erase overtime that is being paid now.

Williams reminded council when the municipal electric assets were sold off, the city then became responsible for costs of streetlights. This was a public works related expense North Branch didn’t assess against itself when it owned the utility.

Mayor Schieber asked about savings from last year’s mild winter.  Williams said the cushion is usually not felt until the year after a light expense year.  The year previous was a hard winter, North Branch had multiple plowing callouts — so 100 tons of sand salt was acquired to be prepared and it’s been stored.   Williams said if this winter is mild, the public works’ balance sheet will level off.

Mayor Kevin Schieber asked about delaying the pavement management plan for a year and Williams explained the city is already behind on repair and maintenance, but suggested council might want to take a look at hiking the Franchise Fee. (North Branch enacted $2 and $5 fees on energy bills in 2016.  This generates about $400,000 annually.)  

The mayor observed, however, that fees or levy, it all comes out of the same residents’ pocketbooks.

Williams pointed out how Public Works has been a team player in the recent past by taking on vehicle/fleet maintenance in-house.  

City employees have taken over cleaning duties and are saving costs of hiring a private firm.

As for $275,000 earmarked for Capital Funding needs (equipment), council member Robert Canada said he’d start with budget trimming by delaying that for one year.

Finance Director Sharon Wright said this line item can certainly be cut, but she’d also like to investigate restructuring vehicle payments as an option, and then finding a schedule to move any initial payments to 2026.  Putting money away for future capital equipment costs builds a reserve, she cautioned, meaning it’s wiser to have an account available so North Branch isn’t borrowing for needed equipment.

Staff will take these council suggestions and revise some of the numbers on the current proposed $7.3 million General Fund budget. Council will get another look at possible revisions with the goal of enacting a final levy by the end of December.

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