County’s preliminary levy is 4.9% increase
News | Published on September 23, 2024 at 1:12pm CDT
By Tim Douglass
tdouglass@pctribune.com
The Pope County Board of Commissioners last week approved a preliminary levy increase of 4.9% over 2024.
The action taken by the board is now the maximum the levy could be increased for 2025 and commissioners could lower that amount before the final budget and levy is adopted in December.
Before the commissioners approved the preliminary budget and levy, they were given six different scenarios ranging from no increase in the levy to a 5.75% increase. Those scenarios also included various amounts of reserve funds to reduce the levy increase.
The final scenario chosen on a motion by Chair Paul Gerde and seconded by Commissioner Gordy Wagner set the levy at $20,853,726. That choice included $518,396 to “buy down” the levy, according to Pope County Administrator Kersten Kappmeyer. In 2024, the county also used about the same amount in reserve funds.
The motion was passed unanimously.
During the discussion, Commissioner Larry Lindor said the county is in better position than many counties in the state. He pointed out that many counties have adopted preliminary budgets much higher than Pope County. He said Nobles County approved a 12% increase, while Kandiyohi County adopted a 8.5% increase and Stearns County adopted a 7.23% increase. Most counties are increasing their levy in the high single digits, he pointed out.
Wagner said he hopes the levy will get lower, but added that it is “enough if something happens before December.”
Gerde thanked Kappmeyer and the county staff for “all the work they put into coming up with something we can live with.”
Kappmeyer did say before the county adopts the final levy, “expenditures and revenues can and will be scrutinized and reviewed in order to find any potential savings that can reduce the necessity of at least a portion of the preliminary levy increase.
After adopting the preliminary levy, the board also affirmed that the county’s Truth-in-Taxation public hearing would take place at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec.5 at in the Third Floor Board Room of the Pope County Courthouse
In a related action last week, the board accepted the 2025 budget and levy amount of the Pope County Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA/EDA). That levy amount will increase about 8% over the 2024, but the budget included about $200,000 more in anticipation of having to demolish the Villard School building. The building is in the tax-forfeiture process.
The action set the levy at $520,000 for 2025. The HRA/EDA has taxing authority in all county cities except Glenwood.
In other action, the county board
• Set the Pope County Annual Drainage Hearing for 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 15.
• Adopted a resolution for the reappointment of the incumbent County Assessor, Michael Wacker, to a new term running from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2028.
Minnesota law (Minn. Stat. chapter 273) requires a County Board to take up the periodic appointment of the County Assessor every four years. In the case of a reappointment of an incumbent Assessor, the Board must act to reappoint or decline to reappoint the Assessor no less than 90 days before the expiration of the incumbent’s current term, or the reappointment to another four-year term is automatic, according to information provided by Kappmeyer.
• Adopted a resolution designating the remaining American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funding as “Lost Revenue Replacement.” The action was necessary in order to preserve what remains of the ARPA funding, and make that designation in compliance with the ARPA final rules set by the federal government. According to ARPA rules, the county is required to designate and report as committed the remaining ARPA funding it has received from the federal government by the end of the year 2024 in order for that funding to be retained. The final ARPA rules allow a local jurisdiction receiving less than $10,000,000 total (Pope County received $2,184,986 total) to elect to treat its received funding as lost revenue replacement without further reporting requirements, according to information from Kappmeyer.
